You are a researcher working for the U.S. Department of Agriculture. After 2 years of effort, you have isolated in pure culture a new, highly virulent bacterium from duck feces that is responsible for...

You are a researcher working for the U.S. Department of Agriculture. After 2 years of effort, you have isolated in pure culture a new, highly virulent bacterium from duck feces that is responsible for several major outbreaks of deaths in mammalian wildlife from contaminated pond water in the South. Based on 16S rRNA sequence comparisons, you have determined that this new bacterium is distantly related to the gram-negative bacterium Vibrio cholerae, and you have named the new strain Vibrio birdsii. You find that ducks are apparently unaffected by V. birdsii. You suspect that V. birdsii may be part of the normal microbiota of ducks. To test this hypothesis, you set up an experiment to examine the host response to V. birdsii in germ-free ducks. The results are summarized in the graph shown. Provide a detailed explanation and interpretation of the results. Do the results support the hypothesis? Provide a rationale for your answer.