Conservationists have established land reserves to preserve the last r

Hi experts,
Please help to explain reason each choice is right or wrong. Thanks.

Hello, tinbq. I would be happy to offer my thoughts on this question in an effort to help you and the larger community. I like to peek at the question first so that I feel primed to tackle it once I have finished reading the passage. This one is asking us to fill in a blank, more or less, and provide a conclusion.



The passage itself is easy enough to digest. The opening line tells us why conservationists have established land reserves. The areas provide habitat conducive to the survival of certain species. The next sentence provides an example of a harmonious land reserve-species interaction. Finally, the last line launches into a conditional if-then statement: if global warming occurs as predicted, then the areas in which various types of vegetation can grow will shift into regions that are currently cooler.

When we assess the answer choices, it is crucial that we not lose track of exactly what the passage tells us. Otherwise, associative thinking can get us into trouble.


I will admit to taking two passes of the answer choices before selecting this one, in part because I am wary of bold, assertive language such as will cease. However, this conditional outlines just what the passage lays out. Again, the first line explains that conservationists establish land reserves to protect a certain habitat; paired with the last line, we understand that that habitat will shift, to summarize the situation concisely. If the vegetation of the protected habitat can grow elsewhere, then the land reserves will not serve the same purpose of being the last remaining habitat of that type. Thus, this is a fully justifiable answer.


Remember what I just wrote above about bold, assertive language? This is a more typical overstated answer choice that employs such language. We cannot make any prediction as to how monarchs will adapt. The passage merely discusses habitat shift.


Again, this one makes for an easy target. To be honest, I did not consider it past it will melt polar ice. Where does the passage mention polar ice? The other definitive prediction, about extinctions, is just as bad as the one in the last answer choice, about monarchs thriving.


The passage provides no such historical data for us to make this conclusion. I suppose I could even single out cooling, but I think that is getting nit-picky when the real issue lies in plain sight.


In the beginning, I wanted this one to work. It lifts some of the correct language, but then it veers off and makes predictions, once again, about how animals will adapt to the change in temperature. But the real dagger in the heart of this one is its too-specific description of land at the end. There is no indication in the passage that the temperature bands that are currently cooler are also used for agriculture. I did a double take to see whether I had missed something about farming, but no, it simply is not there. This is a second best answer, in my view, but it has too many holes to be correct.

I hope that helps. If anyone has further questions, I would be happy to offer my thoughts. Good luck with your studies.

- Andrew

Hi ANDREW,
Thank you so much for your clear explanation.

Hi AndrewN,

I have a doubt regarding your explanation. For answer choice A to work, don't we have to make an unwarranted assumption that Conservationists won't establish new land reserves in cooler areas that have the crucial habitat?

If they can do so then A can't be true.

Conservationists have established land reserves to preserve the last remaining habitat for certain species whose survival depends on the existence of such habitat. A grove of trees in Mexico that provide habitat for North American monarch butterflies in winter is a typical example of such a land reserve. If global warming occurs as predicted, however, the temperature bands within which various types of vegetation can grow will shift into regions that are currently cooler.

If the statements above are true, they provide the most support for which one of the following?

(A) If global warming occurs as predicted, the conservation land reserves will cease to serve their purpose.

(B) Monarch butterflies will succeed in adapting to climatic change by shortening their migration.

(C) If global warming occurs, it will melt polar ice and so will cause the sea level to rise so high that many coastal plants and animals will become extinct.

(D) The natural world has adapted many times in the past to drastic global warming and cooling.

(E) If global warming occurs rapidly, species of plants and animals now protected in conservation land reserves will move to inhabit areas that are currently used for agriculture. - WRONG.

Though A seems to contradict the passage but it gives perspective abut the future not present as mentioned in the passage. Hence it is right.

Answer A.