An invasive insect attacks native plants by drilling into their stems. Once in the plant, the insect cuts the phloem and lays its eggs there fully blocking the phloem of the plant. This action kills the plant by...

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BlackTom AI · Accepted Answer

The scenario describes an insect that feeds inside stems, cuts the phloem, and lays eggs, effectively blocking the phloem. Phloem is the plant tissue responsible for transporting sugars (photosynthates) from sources like leaves to sinks such as roots, developing tissues, and fruits. When the phloem is disrupted, the movement of sugars is hindered, starving tissues that rely on those sugars and ultimately leading to plant death.

Option 1: Disrupting the movement of water. This is associated with the xylem, not the phloem. Water transport from roots to leaves occurs via xylem under transpiration-driven tension, so blocking phloem does not directly disrupt water movement.

Option 2: Disrupting the flow of nutrients absorbed in the soils. Nutrients taken up by roots enter the plant through the roots and are distributed via the xylem and phloem. While phloem disruption can affect sugar distribution, it does not directly block the uptake of minerals from soil, which occurs independently and primarily involves the xylem and root transport processes.

Option 3: Disrupting the movement of sugars. This directly reflects the phloem’s role in transporting sugars from sources to sinks. Blocking the phloem stops this flow, leading to energy and carbohydrate shortages in growing tissues and contributing to plant death.

Option 4: More than one of the above is correct. Based on the explanations above, only sugar movement is directly affected by phloem blockage, while water transport and soil nutrient uptake are not directly disrupted by phloem damage. Therefore, this option is not correct.

An invasive insect attacks native plants by drilling into their stems. Once in the plant, the insect cuts the phloem and lays its eggs there fully blocking the phloem of the plant. This action kills the plant by...Single choice

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