Abiologist studying alpine wildflowers notices that two populations of similar species are able to occupy the same niches. however, species a is mostly found at lower altitudes, while species b is mostly found at higher altitudes. what has most likely caused the realized niches of these two wildflower populations to be smaller than their fundamental niches? a. competition has restricted the ranges of both species. b. the species are involved in a mutualistic relationship. c. species a is capable of growing faster than species b. d. species b requires fewer resources than species a.