Logical Reasoning

PT10 · S4 · Q20 Some flowering plant species

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Some flowering plant species, entirely dependent on bees for pollination, lure their pollinators with abundant nectar and pollen, which are the only source of food for bees.

Facts

Some flowers depend on bees for pollination, and lure bees with nectar and pollen, which is the only food source for bees.

Some bees can only eat from one type of flower. Some flowers can only be pollinated by one type of bee.

causal chain careless applications >> no more of >> no more of that of pesticides that bee species plant species

Evaluate

The #1 thing we read for on Most Supported is cause/effect relationships, and this passage is basically describing a tightly mutual dependent relationship between some bees and some flowering plants.

Some bees require a certain type of plant. If it died, the bee is screwed.

Some plants require a certain type of bee. If it died, the plant is screwed.

We don't have any way to prove that those two situations ever overlap, where a single species of plant and bee both need each other to survive.

So it could be that the picky bees need a specific type of flower, even though that flower isn't picky about what bee pollinates it.

And some flowers might need a specific type of bee, even though that bee isn't picky about what flowers it pollinates.

Goal

Let's look for the most provable answer. It will probably reward our understanding of the cause/effect relationships presented.

20.

The information above, if true, most strongly supports which one of the following?

  1. The earliest species of flowering

    Unsupported

    The stimulus says nothing about when flowering plants and bees first appeared. We can't infer historical chronology from facts about current dependence patterns.

    2% picked this

  2. If the sole pollinator of

    Unsupported

    Too Strong: unlikely extinct Negation (if anything) We know that if the sole pollinator is in danger of extinction, then the plant species it pollinates would be in danger of extinction. But this is an illegal negation of that. Just because the bee is safe doesn't mean the plant is safe. A plant could face habitat destruction, climate change, or other ecological harms even if its pollinator is fine. The stimulus doesn't support the inference that bee survival mostly guarantees plant survival.

    27% picked this

  3. Some bees are able to

    Unsupported

    The stimulus focuses on highly specialized bees that feed only on one plant species. It doesn't discuss generalist bees that can gather from any plant species. We have no support for "some bees can gather from any species."

    4% picked this

  4. The blossoms of most species

    Unsupported

    We really can't derive ideas about "most X's" unless the stimulus provided a claim about "most X's". We don't know what's true about most flowering plants. The stimulus tells us about that some flowering plants are extremely specialized (only one bee can pollinate them). Some bees only like one flower. This creates the possibility that some flowering plants might attract one species of bee (their necessary pollinator) but not attract others. But we have no way to argue that most flowering plants are that way.

    5% picked this

  5. Correct

    The total destruction of the

    Why this is right

    We know that some plants are so dependent on a specific bee species, that if the bee species went away, the plant would. And we know that some bees are so dependent on a specific plant for their one and only food source, that if the plant went away, the bee would too. So this is answer us just saying, "If something killed off all the members of a certain plant species, it could lead to the extinction of a bee species". Yes, if something were to kill off one of those plant species that a bee species entirely depends on, then it would also lead to the demise of the bee species. So it's possible that something that kills off a plant species could also kill off a bee species.

    Skill tested: Most Supported · how this choice captures the argument's function is the move to repeat next time.

    62% picked this

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