Logical Reasoning

PT139 · S4 · Q23 Botanist: In an experiment

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Botanist: In an experiment, scientists raised domesticated radishes in a field with wild radishes, which are considered weeds.

Conclusion (this suggests that)

Resistance to pesticides could probably be passed from domesticated crop plants to their weedy relatives.

Evidence

Resistance to pesticides is often a genetically engineered trait, and in an experiment with radishes, scientists raised domesticated radishes with some weedy wild radishes and after a while the trait of flower color passed from domesticated to wild ones.

Evaluate

Okay, that was a lot to process. We put some "custom" radishes in a field with wild, weedy radishes, and within a few generations the wild ones had turned the color of the "custom" ones.

The author looks at this phenomenon and thinks, customizedbecause it worked with flower color, in the case of domesticated vs. wild radishes, it should work with pesticide-resistance, in the case of any genetically engineered crop plant vs. the wild version of that crop plant.Sure it'll work with radishes, but not with corn / wheat / carrots / etc."

Or by saying, "Sure flower color is a trait that can pass just by co-habitatting in the same field, but pesticide resistance can't pass in the same way."

Or by saying, "Sure it works with domesticated radishes -- we've selected for red radishes through horticulture, but we haven't tried to play Mother Nature and manipulate the DNA of radishes. This same thing won't work if we're talking about a trait that we hand-coded into DNA through genetic engineering."

Goal

Since we're trying to strengthen the argument, we'd like to push back against any of those objections. We want to believe that

23.

Which one of the following, if true, most strengthens the botanist's argument?

  1. It is much easier in

    Weakens

    This hurts the plausibility of passing "pesticide resistance" from the domesticated/GMO kind to the wild/weedy relative. According to this answer, that's the harder direction to pass.

    4% picked this

  2. When the ratio of domesticated

    No Impact

    This could be helpful info if we were trying to figure out how to speed up the passing of one trait from a domesticated plant to its wild relative. But we don't want to hear more about what worked with radishes. We really need to know if the stuff that worked with radishes, and with flower color, would also work with other crops and with pesticide-resistance.

    20% picked this

  3. Radishes are not representative of

    Weakens

    This is our nightmare. The author is extrapolating from the sample of what worked in the radish experiment. She's assuming that the radish experiment is a representative sample of what would generally work for crops / traits. If we learn that radishes are an outlier, that it's unusually easy with radishes for traits to pass from one species to a relative species, then it becomes less likely that this same behavior would also work well with other crop plants.

    2% picked this

  4. The flower color of the

    Weakens, if anything

    One of the three differences we're worried about as we move from the experiment on radishes to the conclusion about other crop plants is that the radishes were domesticated (selectively bred to have a certain flower color) whereas the author is talking about genetically engineering the trait of pesticide resistance. That difference could potentially mean that what worked for radishes doesn't work for the author's plan. If, however, we knew that the domesticated radish's flower color had been genetically engineered, that would strengthen the argument. We would know that a genetically engineered trait is definitely capable of passing. This answer is saying that flower color was not genetically engineered, underscoring the potential difference between the author's Evidence and Conclusion.

    14% picked this

  5. Correct

    It is more difficult for

    Why this is right

    This is the "If I can ... make it there, I'll make it .... anywhere, ... it's up to you, New, York, New York" strengthener. We were worried that "just because it worked with flower color doesn't mean it will work with some other trait, like pesticide resistance". This answer allays that concern by saying, "Are you nuts? Flower color is the hardest trait to pass. If that one is possible, then all other traits are possible. to pass." So this increases the plausibility that pesticide-resistance could be a transmittable trait.

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

    61% picked this

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