Reading ComprehensionDifficulty: Medium

PT109 S2 P3 Q16 Explanation

Atmospheric CO2

A free, expert breakdown of this official LSAT Reading Comprehension question.

TopicsInferenceScience

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Passage

Experts anticipate that global atmospheric concentrations of carbon dioxide (CO2) will have doubled by the end of the twenty-first century. It is known that CO2 can contribute to global warming by trapping solar energy that is being reradiated as heat from the Earth’s surface. However, some research has suggested that elevated CO2 The level of CO2 would thus increase at a lower rate than many experts have predicted.

However, while a number of recent studies confirm that plant growth would be generally enhanced in an atmosphere rich in CO2, they also suggest that increased CO2 would differentially increase the growth rate of different species of plants, which could eventually result in decreased agricultural yields. Certain important crops such as corn potential increase may lead to greater numbers of and more severe wildfires in future rangeland communities.

It is clear that the CO2 fertilization effect does not guarantee the lush world of agricultural abundance that once seemed likely, but what about the potential for the increased uptake of CO2 to decrease the rate of global warming? Some studies suggest that the changes accompanying global warming will not improve the important because high-latitude habitats such as the tundra are expected to experience the greatest temperature increase.

What this question is testing

Inference

Your task

Find what must be true based on what the passage or stimulus states.

Common trap

Answers that are plausible or likely but not actually guaranteed by the text.

Winning move

Keep only the choice the statements fully support — eliminate anything that requires an extra assumption.

Reading along? Open the full official question in LawHub — we show a fragment here and keep the reasoning in our own words.

The question
16.

The passage suggests that the hypothesis mentioned in the first paragraph is not entirely accurate because it fails to take into account which one of the following in

Answer choices

  1. Trap13% picked this

    Increased levels of CO2 will increase the photosynthetic rates of many

  2. Correct73% picked this

    Increased plant growth cannot compensate for increased rates of decomposition caused

    Why this is right

    Answer B is correct.

    Skill tested: Inference · how this choice captures the passage's function is the move to repeat next time.

  3. Trap0% picked this

    Low-latitude habitats will experience the greatest increases in temperature in an atmosphere

  4. Trap10% picked this

    Increased levels of CO2 will change patterns of plant growth and thus will alter the

  5. Trap4% picked this

    Increases in vegetation can be counted on to draw more CO2

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