nelz007 wrote:
In the past 50 years, the population of honeybees in the United States has been cut in half. The decline is due primarily to the increasing use of pesticides in the United States, as well as to the introduction of two types of mites that weaken and kill the bees. Honeybees are the primary pollinators for a variety of important fruit crops, including oranges, apples, grapes, peaches, cranberries and watermelons. Therefore, if the honey bee population continues this drastic decline, then most fruits will no longer be available to consumers.
In evaluating the conclusion, which of the following questions would be LEAST useful to answer?
A Are there other insect pollinators that could pollinate these fruit crops instead of the honeybee?
B Are honeybee populations declining in other important fruit-producing regions, like Chile and New Zealand?
C Is it feasible for humans to hand-pollinate the fruits that have been pollinated by bees?
D Will reducing the use of pesticides in the United States reverse the decline in honeybee populations?
E Is it possible to genetically engineer fruit-producing plants so that they no longer require pollination?
Responding to 3 pms on this question!
I couldn't recall the honeybee question offhand but was convinced that it must be tricky if people are this unsettled because of it. But mind you, in my opinion, the question is straightforward. All you need to do is focus on what the question is asking you. Do not let emotions interfere!
In all our strengthen/weaken questions we tell you to look at the conclusion. Try to strengthen/weaken that. Here the question clearly asks you to figure out what will not help in evaluating the CONCLUSION.
What is the conclusion?
"If the honey bee population continues this drastic decline, then most fruits will no longer be available to consumers."
The conclusion is that if the honey bee population continues to decline, then consumers will not get fruit. What you have to evaluate is this "If the honeybee population continues to decline, will the consumers get fruit?". Basically, we are wondering whether there are alternative ways of pollination or getting fruit.
A Are there other insect pollinators that could pollinate these fruit crops instead of the honeybee?
Alternative method of pollination
B Are honeybee populations declining in other important fruit-producing regions, like Chile and New Zealand?
Alternative method of obtaining fruit
C Is it feasible for humans to hand-pollinate the fruits that have been pollinated by bees?
Alternative method of pollination
D Will reducing the use of pesticides in the United States reverse the decline in honeybee populations?
Doesn't help in evaluating the conclusion. The conclusion clearly says that if the decline continues, fruits will not be available. We don't have to question whether there are ways to reverse the decline. The point is - if the decline happens, can we do something.
E Is it possible to genetically engineer fruit-producing plants so that they no longer require pollination?
Alternative method of obtaining fruit
Answer (D)
Check out the blog post discussing this question:
https://anaprep.com/critical-reasoning- ... -question/ _________________
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