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Difficulty: MediumIdentifying Implied Meanings

Passage:
During wildlife tracking in sub-Arctic tundra, field biologists monitor caribou herd movements using collar-mounted satellite transmitters. The devices are programmed to broadcast location data only twice daily to conserve battery power in sub-zero temperatures. However, when herds approach major river crossings during the spring thaw, researchers remotely switch the units to continuous beacon mode. These river corridors represent critical bottlenecks where sudden ice breakups frequently force herds to alter their travel paths within a matter of hours.

Based on the passage, what is implied about the standard twice-daily broadcast schedule?

  1. A
    It causes the satellite transmitters to drain their battery power prematurely.
  2. It is too infrequent to capture rapid route adjustments at river crossings.Answer
  3. C
    It permanently prevents caribou herds from navigating seasonal ice breakups.
  4. D
    It is strictly maintained to record sub-zero temperatures across the tundra.

Answer

The standard twice-daily broadcast schedule is too infrequent to capture rapid route adjustments at river crossings.
The passage establishes that unpredictable ice breakups can cause caribou to alter their routes within hours, prompting biologists to override the standard twice-daily transmission setting. This action directly implies that the standard interval leaves too much time between updates to accurately track such rapid shifts in direction.

Step-by-Step Solution

1
Identify the standard operating procedure and its exception described in the passage.
Transmitters normally send signals twice a day to save battery, but biologists switch them to continuous mode when herds reach river crossings during spring thaw.
Understanding why the normal procedure is suspended highlights the operational limitation being solved.
2
Analyze the conditions present at river crossings during spring thaw.
River crossings are bottlenecks where ice breakups force caribou to change course within a few hours.
Comparing the timeline of herd movement (hours) with the interval between standard broadcasts (twelve hours) establishes the operational gap.
3
Deduce the logical implication regarding the twice-daily schedule.
A twice-daily transmission interval cannot provide timely data when animals are rerouting multiple times in a single day.
The unstated justification for switching to continuous mode is that the normal schedule would fail to document these fast-moving changes.

Key Concept

Identifying unstated logical implications from contextual clues and procedural changes in a passage.
Estimated Time:1m 0s
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Identifying Implied Meanings

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