The cypress trees of the Louisiana wetlands are threatened by the expl

Question Type: Weaken

Mainpoint: Introduce Jaguars to reduce population of Nutria

Assumption: The plan will work.

A. Past attempts to control the nutria population through traps and poison have resulted in limited and temporary population reductions. - Incorrect. Out of context.

B. A program in Florida found that the best way to conserve the root systems of wetland trees such as cypresses is to surround the trees’ roots with tough plastic barriers. - Incorrect. Out of context.

C. The jaguar is a large and deadly predator that, if introduced, could kill livestock, pets, or even humans that it encounters in the Louisiana wetlands. - Hold.

D. During the past year an unusually cold winter killed an estimated 35 percent of the nutria population in the Louisiana wetlands. - Incorrect. Out of context.

E. The South American jaguar is a predator of the ferret, which is currently the chief predator of the nutria in the Louisiana wetlands. - Between C and E. C describes the threat from Jaguar but there is a possibility that the plan will work if Jaguars are introduced. E directly attacks the plan by stating that introducing Jaguars will lead to reduction in the population of a chief predator of Nutria, thereby increasing Nutria population.

Answer: E

This is a weaken question. Option C: even though there is a threat from Jaguar to other population, Jaguar is stiill a direct predator of Nutria. --> Strengthens the plan
Option E: Jaguar attacks some other animal, which was a predator of Nutria. So the plan won't work and the impact on Nutria population will not be as serious as we thought initially.

C
Vyshak I can't follow y u chose E over C
Coz here jaguar is a predator of nutria as well

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quite interesting question ,the answer should be E
c is tempting but does not affect the plan as well as E is more close to the stimulus.

Nice question!

Choice C and E are the most likely the answer.

C - although not an ideal solution in this case, plan may still work

E - directly attacks the plan, weakening it.

Ans. E

Hello Experts,

How can we say that reducing the population of ferret will weaken the argument (will increase the number of nutria). It can also be possible that once ferret population is reduced, jaguar will attack nutria(because jaguar is natural predator of nutria as stated in the argument) and this will strengthen the argument (will reduce the number of nutria).

Please explain why option E is correct?

Thanks
Lakshay

Hi Lakshay

The questions asks: Which of the following, if true, casts the most doubt on the ranger’s plan to introduce jaguars as an effective way to control the nutria population?

Therefore, we are not looking only for an absolute weakener, but also for that option which weakens the conclusion the most relative to the other options. This is true of most such questions on the GMAT.

The South American jaguar, by attacking the chief predator of the nutria in Louisiana, adversely affects one means of controlling the nutria population and thus may have an adverse effect on the aim of controlling nutria. There is no other option which adversely affects the conclusion - hence, option (E) is the correct answer to this question because it does the most among the given options to weaken the conclusion.

Hope this helps.
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