North American eastern white cedars grow both on cliff faces and in forests. ██████ ███████ ██ ███████ █████ █████ ███████ ████ ███ ██████████ ███ ██████ ████ ██████ ████ █████████ ███ ██████ ██ ██████ ███████ ██ ████████ █████ ████ ███████ ████ ████████ ███ ████ █████ ███ ███ ███████ █████ ██████ █████ ██ ███████ ███ ██ ███ ██ ████ ███████ ██████ █████ ████ ██ █████ █████ ███ ████ ████ ████ ███████ █████ ████
Resolve, Reconcile, or Explain questions present us with a situation that should be puzzling at first blush. You can usually frame it in terms of two facts that seem to be in tension. For this stimulus:
Fact 1: Cliff cedars get fewer nutrients and are smaller compared to forest cedars.
Fact 2: Cliff cedars live longer than forest cedars.
If life is so hard up on the cliffs, why are cliff cedars living longer? If you’ve asked yourself that question and noodled on it a bit, you’ve done enough by way of anticipation.
Which one of the following, ██ █████ ████ █████ ██ ███████ ███ ██████████ ██ ███ ████ ██ ███ ██████ ██ █████ █████ ███ █████ ██ ████████
The conditions on █████ █████ ███ ███████ ██ █████ ██ ████ █████ ██████ █████ █████ ███ ███ ████ ██████
We’re interested in explaining the cliff cedars’ age, not their size or population, so (A) touches on the irrelevant characteristics of these trees.
In areas where ███████ █████ ██████ █████ ██████ █████ ███ ██████████ █████████ ███ █████ ██████ █████ █████ ██████
This provides a reason why cedars live longer on cliffs than they do in forests – they don’t ever burn to death in forest fires.
That’s a factor that has nothing to do with their nutrients or size, so it’s consistent with the other information we’ve been given while still explaining how cliff cedars live as long as they do.
Trees that are █████ ████ █ ███ ███████ █████ █████ ██ ████ ███ ██████████ █████ █████ ██ █████ █████
This fact would apply equally well to forest cedars as to cliff cedars, and therefore can’t explain a difference between the two.
The roots of ██████ ██ █████ █████ █████ ██ ██████ ██ ███ ██████ ███ ████ ███ █████ ███ ██ █████ ████ ████ ████ █ ██████ ███ ████ ██ ██████ ██ ████ ███ ███████
This helps to explain why the cliff cedars aren’t very tall, but (re-read the stem) we’re tasked with explaining why they're so old.
Eastern white cedar ████ ██ ███ ████ ██ ██ ████ ███ ████████ ██ ██████ ██████████ ███ ██ ██ ████████████ ████ ██ ████ ██████████
This fact would apply equally well to forest cedars as to cliff cedars, and therefore can’t explain a difference between the two.
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