PT3.S2.Q20 - In Brazil, side-by-side comparisons of Africanized

parkeuny

I marked (A) and eliminated (C), which is the correct answer, without hesitation. My reasoning was that if certain types of trees are less effectively pollinated, then honey production will decrease. At the same time, (A) seemed compelling to me because if the honeybees native to Brazil and those native to the United States are different, it's possible that the bees native to the U.S. might off the bat be superior to the Africanized honeybees. But I do realize that even if (A) were granted as true, whether they're superior or inferior to the Africanized honeybees is not determined and, while it could potentially weaken the argument, as stated, it doesn't necessarily do so.

Looking back, knowing the right answer, I can see how this is an assumption I made on my own since it's possible that the "certain types of ornamental trees" might not even contribute to the honey production to begin with, but I'm still not sure that I would come back to this question in the future and approach it this way.

Are there any additional and/or complementary reasons for why (C) is the best answer?

Admin note: edited title

Vibrio

You are right in saying that even if AC (A) were true, whether the local honeybees in US are superior or inferior to the Africanized honeybees is not determined. When you weaken an argument, you only need to attack the support between the premise and the conclusion. You don't need to prove that the local honeybees in US are superior. AC (A) attacks the assumption made in the argument that the local honeybees in U.S are similar to local ones in Brazil in their inferiority to Africanized ones.
AC (A) weakens the argument by introducing the possibility of local honeybees in US being superior to Africanized ones.
As you said, you made an assumption in C, that if certain types of ornamental trees are less effectively pollinated, then domestic commercial honey production will decrease. This is a huge assumption given that we know nothing from the stimulus about the relationship between pollination of certain types of trees and commercial honey production.