Conservationist: The population of a certain wildflower

Answer choices

1. A

   Too Strong: only6% picked this

   The wildflower currently reproduces only by

   Even if it reproduces by other means, we still have a premise that says, "hybridization is the only means of preventing total loss of the species". So, we couldn't negate this answer and then argue, "We shouldn't cross pollinate with the daisy, we should help it reproduce some other way."

   6%
2. B

   Out of Scope: daisy's backstory2% picked this

   The domesticated daisy was bred from wild plants that once grew in

   This is just speculating a potential causal story for why the daisy and the wildflower can cross-pollinate, but the author doesn't need to assume any particular story behind that premise. The fact that the daisy and wildflower can cross-pollinate is all that's relevant to the author's argument. How that came to be is not relevant.

   2%
3. C

   Out of Scope: expand its range12% picked this

   Increasing the population of the wildflower will also expand

   The premise specifically talks about preventing total loss of the wildflower in its range. The author never suggests that we're trying to expand the range, so she's not necessarily assuming anything about whether increasing the population will or won't expand the range.

   12%
4. D

   Correct76% picked this

   Wildflower-daisy hybrids will be able to

   Why this is right

   If we negate this, it sounds like a huge objection to this plan: these hybrids won't be able to reproduce The author would be like, "Oh. Well then. I guess introducing the daisy is not going to save the wildflower via hybridization." When I first read this, I was confused, though, thinking that the paragraph had already established this idea when it said that "this wildflower can cross-pollinate with a daisy, producing viable seeds." But as I think about what that term must mean, viable seeds (like a viable pregnancy) means that the seed could actually be "born". It could grow into a plant. What this answer is talking about is, "Once you've put daisies in range of wildflowers and they cross-pollinate and give birth to hybrid plants, will those hybrid plants be able to reproduce with each other?" If not, then this daisy plan will only slightly delay the extinction of the wildflower: we'll get a generation of daisy/wildflower hybrids, but then since those hybrids can't reproduce, they'll die off and then we're at total loss of the wildflower.

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

   76%
5. E

   Too Strong: any5% picked this

   The domesticated daisy will cross-pollinate with any

   All we know is that the daisy can cross-pollinate with this wildflower. And all the argument cares about is using the daisy to partially save this wildflower. Whether daisies can or can't cross-pollinate with 100% of daisylike plants is totally beyond the scope of this conversation. It wouldn't matter to this conversation whether the daisy can cross-pollinate with 100%, 99%, or only 1% of daisylike plants. Since we already know it can cross-pollinate with the wildflower we're trying to save, we already know enough.

   5%