Self-study
Ecologist: Support El Niño, a global weather phenomenon that occurs once every several years, is expected to become more frequent in coming decades due to the global warming caused by air pollution. ██ ██████ ██ ██ █████ ██████ █████ ██████ █████████ █████ ██████ ███████████ █████████ ████████ ██████ ████ ███████ ██ █████████ █████ ██ ██ ██████ ████ ███████ ██████ ███████████ ██ ██████ █ ████ ████ ████████ ██ ██████ ████████
Summarize Argument: Phenomenon-Hypothesis
An Ecologist hypothesizes that the rodent populations in region T will increase over the coming decades. This is because:
Rodent populations increase during long periods of sustained rain
El Nono, which causes heavy rainfall in region T, is expected to become much more frequent due to global warming
Notable Assumptions
The Ecologist assumes that El Nino will consistently bring enough heavy rainfall to cause an increase in the rodent population.
The Ecologist also assumes that there are no unintended consequences from sustained levels of heavy rainfall that would offset the increases to the rodent population.
12.
Which one of the following, ██ █████ █████ ████ ██████ ███ ███████████ █████████
a
In region T, █████ ██ █████████ ████ ████ ████████ ██ ██████ ████ █████ ██ ██ ███████
When it typically rains in region T has no impact on the reasoning of this argument. The reasoning is focused on the increased presence of El Nino causing increased rain, and thus increased rodent populations.
b
Rodent populations in ██████ █ █████ ████████ ██████ ████ ███████ ██ █████ █████ ███ ██ █████ ██████
This does not weaken the argument because the Ecologist assumes there will be heavy rains.
c
In many regions █████ ██ ████████ ██████████ █████████████ ████ ██████ ████████ ████ ██████ █ █████ ███████ ██████ ███████████ ███ ████████████ █████ ████ ████ ███ ██ ██████ ██
While this looks like it weakens the relationship between heavy rains and a high rodent population, the Ecologist is focused on region T. Data from other regions has too many conflicting variables.
d
In region T, ███████ ██████ ██ ██████████ ████ ████████ ████ ███████ ███ ████ ██████ ██ ████ ███████ ██ █████████ █████
This weakens the argument because it challenges the assumption that the heavy rainfall caused by El Nino will result in the sustained rainfall that is correlated with rodent population growth.
e
The global warming ██████ ██ ███ █████████ ████████ █ ██████ ██ ████████ █████ ████ ███ ████████ ██ ███ █████████ ██ ██ ██████ ████ █████ ██████ ██████ ████████████
This answer choice doesn’t do anything because it does not specify how the global warning will impact rodent populations. Will it increase/decrease? It does not say.