Self-study
Botanist: Support In an experiment, scientists raised domesticated radishes in a field with wild radishes, which are considered weeds. ██████ ███████ ████████████ ███ ████ ████████ █████ ██ ████ ███ ████ ██████ █████ ██ ███ ████████████ █████ ████ ████████ ████ ██████████ ██ ███████████ █████ ██ █████ █ ███████████ ██████████ ██████ █████ ████ ██ ██████ ████ ████████████ ████ ██████ ██ █████ █████████ ████ ███ ██████████ ██████
Summarize Argument
The author concludes that the trait of resistance to pesticides would be passed from domesticated crop plants to their weed relatives. This is based on an experiment in which domesticated radishes were able to pass on the trait of flower color to their weed relatives. In addition, the trait of pesticide resistance is often a genetically engineered trait.
Notable Assumptions
The author assumes that pesticide resistance would have the same ability to be transferred to relatives as does the trait of flower color. This overlooks the possibility that something about pesticide resistance — for example, the fact that it’s often genetically engineered into the plant — might prevent it from being passable to weeds. The author also assumes that observations concerning radishes are applicants to other crop plants.
23.
Which one of the following, ██ █████ ████ ███████████ ███ ██████████ █████████
a
It is much ██████ ██ █████████ ███ ███████ ██████ ██ ██ ██████ ████ ████ ██████ ██ █████ ████████████ █████████ ████ ██ ██ ███ ████ ██████ ██ ██ ██████ ████ ███ ████████████ █████ ██ ███ ████ █████████
This compares ability to transfer traits from wild to domesticated with ability to transfer from domesticated to wild. But the argument doesn’t concern transferring from wild to domesticated.
Directionally wrong
Directionally wrong
Answers that, if they have any effect, do the opposite of what we want (weaken when we're trying to strengthen, or strengthen when we're trying to weaken).
b
When the ratio ██ ████████████ ████████ ██ ████ ████████ ██ ███ █████ ██████████ ███ █████ ████ █████ ███ ██████ █████ ██████ ██ ███ ████ ████████ ████ ██████████
This suggests we can speed up the rate of transferring flower color by including a greater proportion of domesticated plants. But this doesn’t relate to whether a different trait — pesticide resistance — can be transferred.
c
Radishes are not ██████████████ ██ ████ ██████ ██ ███████ ████ ███████ ██ ███ ████ ████ █████ ███████ ██████ ███ ██████ █████ ███████ ██ ███████ ███████ ████████
This undermines the argument by suggesting the radishes used in the experiment might not support a conclusion about trait transfer in other kinds of plants.
Directionally wrong
Directionally wrong
Answers that, if they have any effect, do the opposite of what we want (weaken when we're trying to strengthen, or strengthen when we're trying to weaken).
d
The flower color ██ ███ ████████████ ████████ ███ ███ ████ ██████████ ████ ████ ███ ███████ ████████████
If anything, this undermines the argument by pointing out a difference between the trait of flower color and the trait of pesticide resistance. This suggests the transferrability of flower color might not apply to pesticide resistance.
Directionally wrong
Directionally wrong
Answers that, if they have any effect, do the opposite of what we want (weaken when we're trying to strengthen, or strengthen when we're trying to weaken).
e
It is more █████████ ███ ██████ █████ ██ ██ ███████████ ███████ ████████████ ███ ████ ████████ ████ ██ ██ ███ ██████ ███ █████ █████ ██ ██ ██████ ███████ ███ ███ █████████ ███████ █████ ████████
If the transfer of flower color observed in the experiment is more difficult than almost any other kind of transfer of trait between any related plant species, that suggests transfer of pesticide resistance is likely to be easier, which supports the claim that it will occur.