Researchers studying social spiders found that colonies composed of individuals with a mix of "bold" and "shy" temperaments captured more prey and reared more offspring than colonies composed only of bold individuals or only of shy ones. The mix appeared to allow different individuals to specialize in different roles — bolder spiders confronting larger prey, shyer ones tending the web structure — that complemented one another.
Which inference is most strongly supported by the passage?
- A
Bold spiders perform all colony tasks more effectively than shy spiders
- B
Specialization within colonies produces no measurable benefit
- Ccheck_circle
Behavioral diversity within a group can produce collective performance not achievable by uniform groups
- D
Behavioral uniformity in groups consistently outperforms behavioral diversity
Explanation
Mixed colonies outperforming uniform ones via complementary specialization supports B. A, C, D contradict the findings.