Biologist: if reports of people's observations along the newly constru

Question

Biologist: if reports of people's observations along the newly constructed highway are to be believed, many large herbivores such as deer and moose are grazing there. The reported numbers are about equal to our overall population estimates of the past three years, and if there are that many near the road, the animals must be even more abundant in more distant reaches of the forest. So concerns that local populations of these animals are threatened by the construction of the new highway are clearly misplaced.

Which of the following, if true, would most seriously undermine the biologists reasoning?

A Animals that prey on large herbivores tend not to venture anywhere near roads and cars.
B Road construction in an area reduces the availability of plants in that area to large herbivores.
C The distant reaches of the forest cover much more area than does the part of the forest visible from the new highway.
D Vacationers accustomed to encountering large herbivores make up most of the traffic on the new highway.
E The new highway was built over approximately three years.

kingbucky · Answer

My logic behind choosing (A) was, if many large herbivores were spotted near the highways, but animals that prey are not spotted, that might rise a concern, probably, those animals that prey are severely affected.

Source of the question ?

Source of the question ?

Aditya00799 · Answer

please provide OA explanation

Msamin · Answer

This question is really hard for me, folks try this and put you solutions here. Thank you

Bhog_pr · Answer

The answer should be B. If A is true wouldn't that mean the herbivores are safe?

vfost906 · Answer

Can someone explain the answer to this. I choose answer B and I'm confused as to why A is the answer. if the conclusion states that concerns that local populations of these animals are threatened by the construction of the new highway are clearly misplaced, wouldn't having animals that prey on large herbivores tend not to venture anywhere near roads and cars, strengthen that conclusion?

suman94 · Answer

That's exactly what it is. The herbivores are safe near the road because their predators are not near the road.

Hence, it undermines the assumption that there would be more herbivores in the distant reaches than near the road.

terminatork07 · Answer

"A" seems 180, since the conclusion is - "So concerns that local populations of these animals are threatened by the construction of the new highway are clearly misplaced.". If the predators prey further inside the jungle(), having built the highway, it helps the herbivore's predators away. Therefore, we can't say that construction of the highway has threatened the population of the herbivours. I think the question needs to be reworded/revisited.

Biologist: if reports of people's observations along the newly constru

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Biologist: if reports of people's observations along the newly constru

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