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Zorluk: OrtaStrengthen

Agricultural Researcher: In a recent field study, apple orchards that maintained wildflower strips between tree rows had 40 percent fewer infestations of codling moth larvae than adjacent orchards with bare soil between rows. Because wildflower strips attract parasitic wasps that lay eggs in codling moth larvae, the researchers concluded that the presence of these wasps was responsible for the lower infestation rates in the wildflower-bordered orchards.

Which one of the following, if true, most strengthens the agricultural researchers' argument?

  1. A
    The wildflower strips contained several flowering plant species that release volatile chemical compounds known to repel adult codling moths.
  2. B
    Planting and maintaining wildflower strips between tree rows slightly increases the overall seasonal labor expenses for orchard managers.
  3. Orchards with wildflower strips exhibited a significantly higher proportion of parasitized codling moth larvae than did orchards with bare soil.Cevap
  4. D
    Parasitic wasps are generally considered by entomologists to be the most effective biological control agent for all major agricultural fruit pests.
  5. E
    Codling moth larvae cause substantially more economic damage to commercial apple harvests than any other single insect pest.

Cevap

The statement that orchards with wildflower strips exhibited a significantly higher proportion of parasitized codling moth larvae than did orchards with bare soil most strengthens the argument.
The conclusion asserts a specific causal mechanism: the parasitic wasps attracted by the wildflower strips caused the reduction in codling moth larvae. Evidence showing that orchards with wildflower strips actually had a significantly higher proportion of parasitized larvae directly substantiates this mechanism, making it much more likely that wasp activity was responsible for the lower pest levels.

Adım Adım Çözüm

1
Identify the premises and conclusion of the argument
Premise: Orchards with wildflower strips had 40% fewer codling moth larvae. Premise: Wildflower strips attract parasitic wasps that lay eggs in these larvae. Conclusion: The presence of the parasitic wasps caused the reduction in larvae.
Understanding the precise gap between the premises and the conclusion is essential for strengthening the causal claim.
2
Evaluate the causal vulnerability in the author's reasoning
The author assumes that because the wasps are attracted to the wildflower strips, they are actively attacking the larvae in those specific orchards, rather than the reduction being caused by some other factor associated with the flowers.
Strengthening a causal conclusion requires either ruling out alternative causes or providing direct evidence that the proposed mechanism operated as claimed.
3
Select the choice that directly substantiates the proposed causal mechanism
Finding direct evidence of increased larval parasitism in the wildflower orchards confirms that the wasps were actively attacking the pest population, thereby substantiating the proposed mechanism.
Direct confirmation that the causal agent produced its expected intermediate effect provides strong support for the conclusion.

Anahtar Kavram

Strengthening Causal Claims by Confirming Mechanism
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