Lucas M. answered • 05/31/19
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Answer Choices B and D are the correct answers because Lines 32-34 say that, “Plant communities with lots of disturbance, high resource availability, or reduced species diversity tend to be easily colonized,” so that an area unlikely to be colonized would have little disturbance, low resource availability and a large amount of species diversity. This best matches Answer Choice B which describes, “A forested area that has numerous species of plants and has received a nearly normal amount of rainfall over the last five years.” For Question 44, only Answer Choice D describes the features that would make an area likely or unlikely to be colonized by a fast growing invasive species. For Question 43, Answer Choice A is incorrect because it describes a wetland area that “was recently converted to farmland” and experiences “flooding and soil erosion,” which qualify as “lots of disturbance” and would make it likely to be colonized by an invasive species. Answer Choice C is incorrect because an area “that experienced a fire within the last year” and “has few species” of plants qualifies as having experienced “lots of disturbance” and having “reduced species diversity,” making it likely to be colonized by an invasive species. Answer Choice D is incorrect because an area that has “experienced drought over the last seven years” and that has “fewer species of plants,” qualifies as having experienced “low resource availability” and as having “reduced species diversity.”
How to solve this? Question 43 asks “Based on the information in Passage 1, which area would be LEAST likely to be colonized by a fast-growing invasive plant species.” Because this is a Paired Question, we should begin by going through the answer choices for Question 44, looking for any information that would tell us about the likelihood of an area being colonized by an invasive species. This could be information that tells us about areas that are likely or unlikely to be colonized in this way. // Using the [Question Order Rule] we should expect our Text to come earlier in the Passage, most likely before Line 36. Because all of our texts come before that Line, the Rule won’t help us too much. //
For Question 44, Answer Choice A says, “The problems caused by such invasive species are the direct result of their success in colonizing new habitats, and understanding why they are so successful is essential to controlling their spread.” Because these Lines only tell us about the success of invasive species and why we should understand that success, but not about the features that contribute to that success, we should eliminate this option. Answer Choice B says, “Although there are many competing ideas to explain invasion, it is possible that two of the most important are interrelated: The plant species that benefit the most from high resource availability may also gain the most from escaping enemies upon moving to a new range.” Because this answer choice only tell us about two hypotheses about the success of invasive species, and not about the likelihood of their success in particular areas, we should eliminate this option. Answer Choice C says “Hypotheses explaining the exceptional success of exotic species are based upon ways in which a species’ new range differs from its native range: fewer insects and diseases, less competitive environments, and competitors that are more susceptible to chemicals produced by the invader.” This answer choice goes further than the others in telling us about the factors that contribute to the success of invasive plant species, but because it doesn’t tell us about the specific environments or areas that produce these favorable factors, we should discount against it. Answer Choice D says that, “Plant communities with lots of disturbance, high resource availability, or reduced species diversity tend to be easily colonized.” Because this answer choice tells us clearly about the types of areas that would be likely to be easily colonized, we can draw conclusions about the likelihood of an area to be susceptible to invasive species, and we should thus choose Answer Choice D as our correct answer for Question 44.
This Text, from Lines 32-34, tell us that areas with “lots of disturbance, high resource availability, or reduced species diversity” are the most likely areas to be colonized by an invasive species. This means that areas with the opposite features, (1) little disturbance, (2) low resource availability and (3) plentiful species diversity, would be the least likely to be colonized by an invasive species.
For Question 43, Answer Choice A says that an invasive plant species would be unlikely to colonize “a wetland area that was recently converted to farmland but now commonly experiences flooding and soil erosion.” Because this area would have “lots of disturbance,” we should eliminate this option. Answer Choice B says that an invasive plant species would be unlikely to colonize “a forested area that has numerous species of plants and has received a nearly normal amount of rainfall over the last five years.” Because this area would show little disturbance, normal resource availability and lots of species diversity, it would be unlikely to be colonized, so we should keep it as an option. Answer Choice C says that an invasive plant species would be unlikely to colonize “a previously forested area that experienced a fire within the last year and currently has few species of grasses and herbaceous plants growing.” Because this area would have “lots of disturbance” and “reduced species diversity,” we should eliminate this option. Answer Choice D says that an invasive plant species would be unlikely to colonize “a plains area that has experienced drought over the last seven years and has fewer species of plants than before the drought began.” Because this area would have “low resource availability” and “reduced species diversity,” we should eliminate this option. This leaves us with Answer Choice B as our correct answer for Question 43.
