Self-study
When old-growth forests are cleared of tall trees, more sunlight reaches the forest floor. ████ ███████ ██ █ █████ ████████ ██ ███ ██████████ ██ █████ ██████ ██ █████ ███ ████ ████ ██████ ███ █████ ███ ████ ████ █████ ████ ███████ ███████ ███████ ███ ████ ██████████████ ████ ███ █████ ██████ ██ ██████████ ████████
Find The Paradox; Resolve The Paradox
Resolve, Reconcile, and Explain questions present a stimulus wherein two facts exist in tension. We need to find those two facts, think about why it feels like they’re in tension, then brainstorm a few solutions before heading into the answer choices. Here’s how that looks in this question:
Context: We just chopped down a bunch of trees, and now there’s a bunch of sun and shrubs.
Fact 1: Mule deer eat shrubs! Lots of shrubs sounds great!
Fact 2: For whatever reason, the mule deer are actually less well-nourished.
We’re anticipating reasons why the deer are less well-nourished even though they have access to a ton of shrubs. It’s nice to noodle on that a bit. Maybe the shrubs are worse now. Or maybe there’s usually more variety in their diet but they’re eating too many shrubs now.
2.
Which one of the following, ██ █████ ████ █████ ██ ███████ ███ ████████ ████████
a
Mule deer have ███████████ ██████ ███ ███████████ █████████ ██████ ████ ██████ ███ ████ ██ ██████ █████ ██████ ████████ ██ █████ ████ ████████
This is neither here nor there. Do shrubs count as tough plants? Do the deer usually eat more/fewer tough plants than they are now? Are tough plants nutritious or not nutritious?
b
Mule deer herds ████ ███████ ███████ ███████ ████ ██ ████ ████ ███████ ████ █████ █████████ ███ █████ █████ █████ ████ ██ █████ ████ ████ ████████████
This has nothing to do with nourishment. It would be a lot more relevant if Fact 2 were something like “yet mule deer herds that inhabit cleared forests are less well positioned to survive predator attacks and harsh winters.”
c
Mule deer populations ███ ██████ ██████████ ███████ █████ ███████ ███ ███████ ████ █████ ████████ ██ ████ ██ █████ ███ █████████
This is neither here nor there. How do those climates relate to nutrition? What’s the relationship between climate and old/new growth forests?
d
As plants receive ████ █████████ ████ ███████ ██████ ███████ ██ ████████ █████████ ████ ███████ █████████ ██ ███ █████████ █████████
This explains why the deer are less well-nourished even though they’re eating a ton of shrubs: sunlight makes the shrubs less nutritious than they usually are (because they’re harder to digest).
e
Insect parasites, such ██ ███████ ███████ ██ ██████ ████ ████ █████████ ██ ████ ████ █████ █████ ██ ██████ ████ █████ ████ ████ ████ ███████ █████
First off, ticks chomping on the deer has nothing to do with their nourishment, which is just about diet, not overall health.
But also there are more trees in old-growth forests, so if anything this gives us another reason to expect the deer in cleared forests to be better off.