The myth persists that in 1492 the Western Hemisphere was an untamed wilderness and that it was European settlers who harnessed and transformed its ecosystems. ███ ███████████ █████ ████ ████████ ██ ███████████ ███ ████ ███████ ██ ███████ ███████ ████ ██████ ███ ███████ ██ ██████████ ██████ ███████████ ███ █████████ ████ ██ ███ ███████ ██ ████████████ ██████████ ███████ ██████████ ██ █████ ██ ████████ ███
Intro topic ·Misconception that Europeans were the first to tame wilderness
In fact, Native Americans altered the forest before Europeans.
Additional Support ·Nicaraguan pine forests today grow in areas that were burned
This probably also happened in the past. Pine forests were found only where there were Native American settlements. When the settlements left, the pine forests disappeared.
Passage Style
Critique or debate
2.
It can be inferred that █ ██████ ██████ ██ █████████ ██ ███ ███████ █████ ████ ████ █████ ██████ ██ ███████
Question Type
Implied
This Inference question asks what is LEAST likely to be true about a burned forest. Burned forests are described throughout the passage, so we will approach this question with the process of elimination.
a
numerous types of ████████ █████
In P3, we see that when settlements were abandoned (and thus when routine burning would have stopped), the land returned to mixed hardwoods. This shows us that forests that are actively being burned likely wouldn’t have numerous types of hardwood trees.
86%
b
extensive herbaceous undergrowth
P2 tells us that herbaceous undergrowth is a result of burning forests, so burned forests would not be unlikely to display extensive herbaceous undergrowth.
3%
c
a variety of █████████████ ██████
P2 tells us that fire-tolerant plants are a result of burning forests, so burned forests would not be unlikely to display a variety of fire-tolerant plants.
6%
d
various stages of ██████████ ████████
P2 tells us that burning results in forests in different stages of ecological development, so various stages of ecological maturity would not be unlikely from burned forests.
3%
e
grassy openings such ██ ███████ ██ ██████
P2 tells us that grassy openings are a result of burning forests, so burned forests would not be unlikely to display grassy openings.
2%
Answer five questions and we'll estimate your score.
This is a slightly challenging question.
It is similar in difficulty to other questions in this passage.
Score of students with a 50% chance of getting this right
140
Analysis
Implied
Implied
Stems asking us to infer an idea implied by the claims in the passage (as opposed to identifying an idea that appears explicitly). Similar to most strongly supported questions in LR.
Critique or debate passages contain multiple points of view on a particular subject. Sometimes the author takes sides and participates in the critique or debate, other times the author merely reports the debate.
