Although an insecticide may initially prove effective in reducing mala

Although an insecticide may initially prove effective in reducing malaria-causing mosquito populations, the surviving mosquitoes, genetically endowed to withstand the insecticide, thrive on the reduced competition from other mosquitoes and pass on their genetically based resistance to their offspring. Mosquito populations then become less and less susceptible to the insecticides. Because the presence of older mosquitoes—those ten or more days old—is essential to maintaining the life cycle of the malaria parasite, researchers have proposed addressing the problem of pesticide resistance by searching for a means of targeting only older mosquitoes for elimination.

Which of the following, if true, would most help support the researchers’ proposal?

A. Younger mosquitoes are also essential to the life cycle of the malaria parasite.
B. The older mosquitoes have completed their breeding activity.
C. The proposed approach to controlling mosquito populations is likely to require more frequent applications of pesticides.
D. Malaria is only transmitted to humans by mosquito bites.
E. The older mosquitoes are not as susceptible to insecticides as younger mosquitoes.