### Passage
An environmental scientist investigated the efficiency of sunflower plants (*Helianthus annuus*) in phytoremediation—the process of using living plants to remove heavy metals from contaminated soil. Sunflowers were grown in pots containing soil with a baseline lead () concentration of under controlled greenhouse conditions. The scientist set up several experimental groups to evaluate how two soil amendments—biochar and arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF)—affect the rate of uptake by the plants.
The experimental groups were designed as follows:
* Group A: Soil with of , no biochar, no AMF.
* Group B: Soil with of , no biochar, no AMF.
* Group C: Soil with of , biochar added (), no AMF.
* Group D: Soil with of , no biochar, AMF added.
* Group E: Soil with of , biochar added (), AMF added.
All groups were watered daily with of distilled water and kept at a constant temperature of under a light/ dark cycle. After , the dry biomass of the plants and the concentration of in the plant tissues were measured.
To evaluate the specific influence of each experimental variable, the scientist must compare the results of a test group to a corresponding control or baseline group. Match each of the following experimental objectives with the group that serves as the most appropriate control or baseline.
- Determine the baseline growth of the plants in the absence of lead contamination.Group A ( , no biochar, no AMF)
- Isolate the effect of the biochar amendment on lead accumulation in the absence of AMF.Group B ( , no biochar, no AMF)
- Isolate the specific effect of biochar when AMF is already present in the soil.Group D ( , no biochar, AMF added)
- Isolate the specific effect of AMF when biochar is already present in the soil.Group C ( , biochar added, no AMF)