Until recently, conservationists were often complacent about the effec

Question

Passage A

Until recently, conservationists were often complacent about the effect of nonindigenous plant and animal species on the ecosystems they invade. Many shared Charles Elton’s view, introduced in his 1958 book on invasive species, that disturbed habitats are most vulnerable to new arrivals because they contain fewer or less vigorous native species. Now, however, ecologists realize that when humans introduce new species into existing ecosystems, even pristine, species-rich habitats are threatened. The rapidly increasing conservation problems and high damage and control costs generated by these invasions merit serious concern.

Invasive plants profoundly affect ecosystems and threaten biodiversity throughout the world. For example, to the untrained eye, the Everglades National Park in Florida appears wild and  natural.  Yet this and other unique ecosystems are being degraded as surely as if by chemical pollution. In Florida, forests are growing where none existed before. Traditionally, saw grass dominated large regions of Florida’s marshes, providing habitat for unique Everglades wildlife. Although saw grass grows over 9 feet tall, introduced Australian melaleuca trees, typically 70 feet tall, now outcompete marsh plants for sunlight. As melaleuca trees grow and form dense stands, their leaf litter increases soil elevations, inhibiting normal water flow. Wildlife associated with saw grass marshes declines. Similarly, in Australia, the introduction of Scotch broom plants led to the disappearance of a diverse set of native reptiles.

Passage B

The real threat posed by so-called invasive species isn’t against nature but against humans’ ideas of what nature is supposed to be. Species invasion is not a zero-sum game, with new species replacing old ones at a one-to-one ratio. Rather, and with critical exceptions, it is a positive-sum game, in which ecosystems can accept more and more species. Indeed, in both marine and terrestrial ecosystems, ecologists have found that invasions often increase biodiversity at the local levels if you add many new species and lose few or no native species, the overall species count goes up.

Invasions don’t cause ecosystems to collapse. Invasions may radically alter the components of an ecosystem, perhaps to a point at which the ecosystem becomes less valuable or engaging to humans. But 50 years of study has failed to identify a clear ecological difference between an ecosystem rich in native species and one chock-full of introduced species. Unlike ecosystem destruction—clear cutting of forests, for example—invasions don’t make ecosystems shrink or disappear. They simply transform them into different ecosystems. When the issue is phrased as one of ecosystem destruction, the stakes are stark� we choose between nature’s life and nature’s death. In actuality, introduced species present a continuum. A few species do cause costly damage and tragic extinctions. But most plant and animal species simply blend in harmlessly. The issue they present for humans is not whether we will be surrounded by nature but rather what kind of nature we will have around us.    1 
 1. Both passages are concerned with answering which one of the following questions?

(A) Why are some ecosystems more vulnerable to introduced species than others?
(B) What distinguishes introduced species that are harmful from those that are harmless?
(C) What approach should be taken to protect ecosystems from introduced species?
(D) How are ecosystems affected by the introduction of new species?
(E) How are species able to spread beyond their native ecosystems?

2 
 2. Passage A, but not passage B, asserts which one of the following regarding ecologists who study introduced species?

(A) Their research has been limited to studying the economic impact of introduced species.
(B) They are inconsistent in their use of criteria for determining what defines an ecosystem.
(C) Most agree that introduced species can cause extinctions.
(D) Before Elton, most of them were concerned only with preserving biodiversity at the local level.
(E) They do not share Elton’s view that introduced species primarily threaten disturbed habitats.

3 
 3. The author of passage B would be most likely to agree with which one of the following statements about the term “natural” as it is used in passage A ( Highlighted )?

(A) It correctly characterizes a difference between pristine and disturbed environments.
(B) It contradicts a concept of nature put forth elsewhere in passage A.
(C) It helps to clarify a difference between the “wild” and the “natural.”
(D) It introduces an unconventional definition of nature.
(E) It conflates physical nature with an arbitrary ideal of nature.

4 
 4. Which one of the following is most analogous to the main point of passage B?

(A) The loss of a favorite piece of clothing when it starts to fray after many years is not necessarily a meaningful loss.
(B) The alteration of a culture’s folk music by the influence of music from other cultures is not always lamentable.
(C) The expansion of urban development into previously rural areas is a necessary consequence of progress.
(D) Cultures can only benefit when they absorb and adapt ideas that originated in other cultures.
(E) While horticulturalists can create new plant species through hybridization, hybridization also occurs in the wild.
 
 5 
 5. Which one of the following most accurately characterizes the relationship between the two passages?

(A) Passage A presents a hypothesis about the causes of a particular phenomenon, while passage B presents an alternative hypothesis about the causes of that phenomenon.
(B) Passage A questions a common assumption about a particular phenomenon, while passage B shows why that assumption is well-founded.
(C) Passage A presents evidence that a particular phenomenon is widely considered to be undesirable, while passage B presents evidence that the same phenomenon is usually considered to be beneficial.
(D) Passage A warns about the dangers of a particular phenomenon, while passage B argues that the phenomenon should not generally be considered dangerous.
(E) Passage A proposes a particular course of action, while passage B raises questions about the advisability of that approach.

RC Butler 2022  -  Practice Two RC Passages Everyday.   
Passage # 343 Date: 26-Aug-2022
 This question is a part of RC Butler 2022 .  Click here for Details

Source:   LSAT Official PrepTest 67   
 Difficulty Level: Will be updated after 50+ timer attempts

bv8562 · Answer

Kindly provide the explanation for Q3. Thanks!

Sajjad1994 · Answer

Explanation

3. The author of passage B would be most likely to agree with which one of the following statements about the term “natural” as it is used in passage A (Highlighted)?

Difficulty Level:   700

Explanation

Read the way  “nature”  is used in the second paragraph. Passage A’s author writes that the  “degraded”  ecosystem  “appears wild and natural.”  The author of passage A argues that this is only an appearance, though, and that because new species are in the ecosystem, it is no longer natural. You don’t need to guess how the author of passage B would define nature differently. Look for how the author of passage B uses the word  “nature”  starting in the fifth paragraph. The author of passage B would say that is all nature, just different  “kinds”  of nature, and that the ecosystem with new species in it is no less  “natural”  than the ecosystem without the new species.

A. No.  This is the opposite of what the author of passage B states in the last line.

B. No.  Passage A and passage B have differing views of nature, but the author of passage B never suggests that the author of passage A might be self contradictory.

C. No.  While passage A links the terms  “wild”  and  “nature,”  the author of passage B never discusses  “wild”  or wildness as something different.

D. No.  There is no evidence of which author’s definition is more  “conventional.”

E.  Yes.   As passage B points out, there is no issue “whether” there is nature. Both pristine ecosystems and ones with added species are nature. So the author of passage B would indeed think the definition of nature in passage A is arbitrary, since it attempts to distinguish between different kinds of nature.

Answer: E

Until recently, conservationists were often complacent about the effec

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Until recently, conservationists were often complacent about the effec

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