Self-study
The gray squirrel, introduced into local woodlands ten years ago, threatens the indigenous population of an endangered owl species, because the squirrels' habitual stripping of tree bark destroys the trees in which the owls nest. ████ █████ █████████ ████ █████████ ███████ ███ ██████ ███ ███ ████ ██████████ ███ █████████ █████ ████ ████ ████████ █████ ███████████ ███ ██████████ █████ ████ ██ ██████ ██ ███ ███ ███████████ █████ ███ ██████ █████ ██ ██████ ██ ██████████ ██████████ ████ ██ █████████ ███ █████ ████████
Summarize Argument
Officials argue that setting out poison to eliminate invasive squirrels would pose no threat to a threatened owl population. This is because the poison would only be accessible to squirrels and other rodents.
Notable Assumptions
The officials assume that if owls can’t directly reach the poison, it won’t threaten their population. This means the officials assume the owls either won’t eat the dead squirrels, or else that poison in dead squirrels won’t harm owls.
The officials also assume that the owl population won’t be indirectly harmed by eliminating the squirrels and potentially poisoning other rodents, such as by losing an important food source.
8.
Which one of the following, ██ █████ ████ █████ ████ ████████ ███ ██████████ █████████
a
One of the ███████ █████ ███████ ███ ██████ ██ ███ ███ ██████ ██ ███ ███ █████████ █ ███████ ██ █████ ████ ██ ███ █████
If owls don’t prey on red squirrels, then as far as we know it doesn’t matter whether the red squirrels are also poisoned. We would need more details about the ecosystem for this to call the argument into question.
b
The owls whose ███████ █████ ███ █████████ █████ █████████ ██ ███ ████ █████████ ████ █████████ ██ ████████
The poison would eliminate a threat to the owl population by poisoning their prey. Perhaps the owls would eat poisoned rodents, or merely lose an important food source. Either way, this weakens the argument that the owls will be unharmed.
c
No indigenous population ██ ███ █████ ████ ███████ █████ ████ ███ ██████████ ████ ██ ██████████ ██ ███ ████ ██████████
The officials' goal is to protect the owls, so it doesn't matter if no other species is threatened. This doesn't help us detemine the impact on the owl population.
d
The owls that ███ ██████████ █████ █████ █████ ██ ███ ████ ██ ██████ ███ ███ ████ █████████ █████ ████ ████ ████ ███ ███████
We already know the squirrels' behavior is destroying the trees that owls nest in. It doesn’t matter exactly how that occurs, and we can't deny that the squirrels are affecting the owls' nesting sites.
e
The officials' plan ███████ ██████ ███ ██████ ██ ████ ███████ ████ ███ ███████ █████ ██ ███████ ███ ███ ██ █████ ████████
If anything, this suggests that other members of the ecosystem won’t be directly consuming the poison. But we still don't know if other animals—like owls—could eat poisoned rodents. This doesn't undermine the argument.