A wildlife conservation agency plans to introduce a native predatory bird, the peregrine falcon, into a coastal metropolitan area to control the rapidly growing population of feral pigeons. Conservationists argue that because feral pigeons make up over 80 percent of the falcon's natural diet in comparable habitats, this introduction will significantly reduce the city's pigeon population without threatening indigenous songbird species.
Which of the following questions would be most useful to evaluate the validity of the conservationists' argument?
- Whether feral pigeons in the metropolitan area nest predominantly in architectural niches that prevent hunting falcons from capturing them.Cevap
- BWhether neighboring rural communities have successfully used artificial nesting boxes to increase local falcon populations.
- CWhether the financial cost of monitoring the introduced falcon population will exceed the budget allocated for urban wildlife management.
- DWhether indigenous songbirds in the city have experienced population declines due to recent real estate developments.
- EWhether feral pigeons cause more structural damage to municipal buildings than indigenous songbirds do.
Cevap
Evaluating whether feral pigeons nest in architectural niches inaccessible to falcons is most useful because it directly tests the feasibility of falcon predation on pigeons versus songbirds.
The correct answer provides a critical factor whose two extreme outcomes produce opposite effects on the argument. If urban architecture protects pigeons from falcon attacks, falcons will fail to suppress pigeon numbers and may switch to preying on local songbirds, invalidating the argument. Conversely, if architecture does not hinder falcons, they can prey on pigeons as expected, validating the argument.
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Anahtar Kavram
Test of Variance for Argument Validity