Refer to the Journal of Biogeography (Dec. 2003) study of ants in Mongolia (central Asia), presented in Exercise, in which you compared the mean number of ants at two desert sites. Since the sample sizes were small, the variances of the populations at the two sites must be equal in order for the inference to be valid.

a. Set up H0 and Ha for determining whether the variances are the same.

b. Use the data in the GOBIANTS file to find the test statistic for the test.

c. Give the rejection region for the test if α = .05.

d. Find the approximate p -value of the test.

e. Draw the appropriate conclusion in the words of the problem.

f. What conditions are required for the test results to be valid?