A local agricultural extension office recently advised fruit orchard owners to plant wildflower strips along the perimeter of their crop fields. The office reasoned that these wildflower strips would attract a larger population of wild bees, which in turn would increase pollination and boost overall fruit yields per acre.
Which of the following, if true, most seriously weakens the extension office's argument?
- Wildflower strips also attract a species of pest beetle that consumes fruit blossoms, destroying more blossoms than the additional wild bees can pollinate.Cevap
- BOrchards that planted wildflower strips produced fruit with higher sugar content than orchards that did not.
- CThe market price of wildflower seeds has declined significantly over the past three years.
- DCommercial honeybees are more efficient at pollinating vegetable crops than wild bees are.
- EMost fruit orchard owners currently use synthetic fertilizers to maintain baseline soil nutrients.
Cevap
The argument is most seriously weakened by the finding that wildflower strips attract pest beetles that destroy more blossoms than the wild bees can pollinate.
The core argument claims that planting wildflower strips will increase overall fruit yields because the strips attract wild bees that increase pollination. The statement about pest beetles reveals an unintended consequence of planting wildflower strips: attracting beetles that destroy more blossoms than the extra bees can pollinate. This net loss of fruit blossoms directly undermines the conclusion that fruit yields per acre will increase.
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Weakening Arguments