If lizards adapt their behavior to the fire ants, then lizards from the invaded habitats should twitch more than lizards from uninvaded habitats when exposed to red imported fire ants (twitching helps to repel the ants). Test this hypothesis. The variable Twitches is the number of twitches exhibited by each lizard in the first minute after exposure.

(a) State the null and alternative hypotheses.

(b) Use technology to calculate the p-value.

(c) What (if anything) does this p-value tell you about lizards and fire ants?

Address lizard behavior in response to fire ants. The red imported fire ant, Solenopsis invicta, is native to South America, but has an expansive invasive range, including much of the southern United States (invasion of this ant is predicted to go global). In the United States, these ants occupy similar habitats as fence lizards. The ants eat the lizards and the lizards eat the ants, and in either scenario the venom from the fire ant can be fatal to the lizard. A study explored the question of whether lizards learn to adapt their behavior if their environment has been invaded by fire ants. The researchers selected lizards from an uninvaded habitat (eastern Arkansas) and lizards from an invaded habitat (southern Alabama, which has been invaded for more than 70 years) and exposed them to fire ants. They measured how long it takes each lizard to flee and the number of twitches each lizard does. The data are stored in FireAnts.