Since mosquito larvae are aquatic

Answer choices

1. A

   Unrelated to Drought6% picked this

   The use of insecticides is typically prohibited in

   If you can't use pesticides in a wetland habitat, then you would potentially end up with more mosquitoes in a wetland habitat. But insecticides have no connection to drought, and we need a way to explain why there's an explosion of mosquitoes after a drought, rather than after wet weather.

   6%
2. B

   Unrelated to Drought3% picked this

   Human populations tend to be sparse in areas near

   If you don't have humans near a wetland habitat, is that a good thing or a bad thing for mosquito populations? The fact that I'm not sure should warn us that there's no common sense knowledge to use here. Obviously mosquitoes bite humans, but does the presence of human populations make it more or less likely that local mosquitoes would thrive? More importantly, human populations have no connection to drought, and we need a way to explain why there's an explosion of mosquitoes after a drought, rather than after wet weather.

   3%
3. C

   Correct71% picked this

   Wetland habitats contain numerous aquatic insects that prey on

   Why this is right

   Since mosquito larvae (babies) are aquatic, they hatch in water. If they live in a wetland habitat, where there are aquatic predators, then the predators eat a lot of the larvae and reduce the overall mosquito population. During a drought, though, water dries up, and so the populations of aquatic insects would go down. If the population of mosquito larvae's predators is lower, than more mosquito babies will grow up, spread their wings, and get out in there in the real world to spread some diseases.

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

   71%
4. D

   Unrelated to Drought11% picked this

   Wetland habitats host a wider variety of mosquito species than do other areas

   A wider variety of mosquito species has no connection to drought, so it doesn't give us a way to explain how drought makes the mosquito population increase.

   11%
5. E

   Unclear Impact10% picked this

   Periods of drought in wetland habitats create conditions conducive to the emergence of

   This answer has a direct tie-in to drought. When there's a drought, there will be more plants growing. But do we have a common sense way to get from "more plants growing" to "more mosquitoes / more disease outbreaks"? No. In the correct answer, we had "when there's a drought, it will negatively impact aquatic insects that prey on mosquito larvae". There, we have a common sense way to get from impact of a drought (mosquito predators disappear) to the idea of "more mosquitoes / more disease outbreaks".

   10%