In Asia, where palm trees are non-native, the trees' flowers have trad

Question

In Asia, where palm trees are non-native, the trees' flowers have traditionally been pollinated by hand, which has kept palm fruit productivity unnaturally low. When weevils known to be efficient pollinators of palm flowers were introduced into Asia in 1980, palm fruit productivity increased — by up to 50 percent in some areas — but then decreased sharply in 1984.

Which of the following statements, if true, would best explain the 1984 decrease in productivity?

(A) Prices for palm fruit fell between 1980 and 1984 following the rise in production and a concurrent fall in demand.

(B) Imported trees are often more productive than native trees becasue the imported ones have left behind their pests and diseases in their native lands.

(C) Rapid increases in productivity tend to deplete trees of nutrients needed for the development of the fruit-producing female flowers.

(D) The weevil population in Asia remained at approximately the same level between 1980 and 1984.

(E) Prior to 1980 another species of insect pollinated the Asian palm trees, but not as efficiently as the species of weevil that was introduced in 1980.

gmatmba · Accepted Answer

C would explain this as the increase in productivity resulted in depletion of nutrients. 

A comes close but deals with supply and demand and how it affected price - and does not relate to productivity that is controlled by weevils (and not supply and demand)

The other options are gibberish

buzzgaurav · Answer

Definitely C.
A-----> Talks about price, supply-demand but does not explain the 1984 decrease in productivity.
B----->Imported plants are more productive. So what, again no valid reason.
C----->Okie..productivity increased---nutrients got delpeted---productivity again fell due to that.
D----->No valid reason again.
E----->It explains the increase in production after 1980.

hisharma · Answer

Hey I was caught between B& C:
Why B? : its written that weevils were introduced into Asia => they were imported and then the sentence said the imported tree are often more productive since they leave behind their pests as well as diseases.. now soonafter these pests and diseases will recur in the new land leading to the decrease in the productivity ..
why C?: since there was a rapid increase in the productivity of flower trees .. the nutrients might have depleted at a faster pace leading to decrease in productivity in the later yrs..

In B, I seem to infer too much ..
Should go with C..

jaynayak · Answer

Will go with C

All the options are either out of scope or provide erroneous information.
C provides a valid point that since palm tree fruits decreased, numbers of trees created decreased.

krishp84 · Answer

This is a Resolve a paradox question

My comments inline.

abhishekdadarwal2009 · Answer

In Asia, where palm trees are non-native, the trees' flowers have traditionally been pollinated by hand, which has kept palm fruit productivity unnaturally low. When weevils known to be efficient pollinators of palm flowers were introduced into Asia in 1980, palm fruit productivity increased — by up to 50 percent in some areas — but then decreased sharply in 1984.

Which of the following statements, if true, would best explain the 1984 decrease in productivity?
 
(A) Prices for palm fruit fell between 1980 and 1984 following the rise in production and a concurrent fall in demand. the demand of the palm fruit s out of scope for this argument.

(B) Imported trees are often more productive than native trees becasue the imported ones have left behind their pests and diseases in their native lands.  if tha is the case then the trees should continwe to produce, although this is out of scope because this does not address the reason why it declined.

(C) Rapid increases in productivity tend to deplete trees of nutrients needed for the development of the fruit-producing female flowers. Correct explaination for the resaon why the production declined

(D) The weevil population in Asia remained at approximately the same level between 1980 and 1984 this further creates distance between premise and conclusion

(E) Prior to 1980 another species of insect pollinated the Asian palm trees, but not as efficiently as the species of weevil that was introduced in 1980  argument does not talk about insects prior to 1980

cuhmoon · Answer

GMATNinja 
Quick doubt regarding D.
In D, the question states that the population remained the same between 1980-1984. Between, doesn't include 1984.
But in 1984, the population could have decreased... Please explain what am I missing here?

BooRadley · Answer

OE

Argument Construction
 
 Situation  
In 1980, the introduction of weevils to pollinate palms trees in Asia resulted in increased palm fruit productivity. This productivity decreased sharply in 1984.

Reasoning  
What explains the sudden decrease in 1984? The palm trees had experienced a sudden burst of productivity beginning in 1980. What if an after-effect of that spurt was the cause? If that burst of productivity had used up the trees’ nutrients, then the trees would be unable to produce the flowers that are pollinated in order to produce fruit. This sudden exhaustion of the tree’s resources is the best explanation for the sudden decrease in productivity.

A. Falling prices and falling demand do not explain the falling productivity of the trees.
B. The lack of pests and diseases among imported trees does not explain the sharply decreased productivity.
C. Correct. This statement properly identifies a reason for sharply decreased productivity.
D. If the weevil population pollinating the trees remained the same, it is reasonable to think that productivity remained the same, so this does not explain the decrease.
E. A change that occurred before 1980 does not explain a change that occurred in 1984.

The correct answer is C.

GmatKnightTutor · Answer

In Asia, where palm trees are non-native, the trees' flowers have traditionally been pollinated by hand, which has kept palm fruit productivity unnaturally low. When weevils known to be efficient pollinators of palm flowers were introduced into Asia in 1980, palm fruit productivity increased — by up to 50 percent in some areas — but then decreased sharply in 1984.

Which of the following statements, if true, would best explain the 1984 decrease in productivity?

(A) Prices for palm fruit fell between 1980 and 1984 following the rise in production and a concurrent fall in demand.

(B) Imported trees are often more productive than native trees becasue the imported ones have left behind their pests and diseases in their native lands.

(C) Rapid increases in productivity tend to deplete trees of nutrients needed for the development of the fruit-producing female flowers.

(D) The weevil population in Asia remained at approximately the same level between 1980 and 1984.

(E) Prior to 1980 another species of insect pollinated the Asian palm trees, but not as efficiently as the species of weevil that was introduced in 1980.

Nice passage. We have palm tree flowers that aren't as productive because they are pollinated by hand in a region they aren't native. Because weevils are known to be really good at pollinating them, they were were brought over and productivity shot up by 50%. The problem is that 4 years later productivity started to fall significantly.

We're asked to look for why this happened.

(C) Rapid increases in productivity tend to deplete trees of nutrients needed for the development of the fruit-producing female flowers.

(C) is the answer. It's worth remembering that we're focused on why PALM FRUIT PRODUCTIVITY has fallen. This answer choice basically says that one of the consequences of this weevil-boosted productivity is that the palm trees don't create as many fruit-making plants anymore. EVEN IF each fruit-producing flower did give 50% more, if the end result is that over time you end up with fewer of those flowers per tree, you're going to see a fall in productivity. Imagine a tree that used to have 20 flowers now only having 5.

VerbalBot · Answer

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In Asia, where palm trees are non-native, the trees' flowers have trad

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