Self-study
Dead, rotting logs on the forest floor provide the habitat for a small mammal, the red-backed vole, which subsists almost entirely on the portion of certain specialized fungi which grows aboveground. ███ ████████████ ███ █████████ ██ ███ ██████ █████ ██ ███ ██████ ████ ██ ███ █████ ████ ███████ ████ █████ ██████ ████ ███████████ ███████ ██████ ███ ████ █████ ██ ███████ ██████ ███ ██████ ███ █████ ██ ██████████ ███ ███████ █████████ ███ █████████ ██ ██████████ █████ ████████ ███ █████ ████ ████████
Objective: Identify a Strongly Supported Statement
The stimulus tells us about forest ecosystems. Rotting logs provide habitat for red-backed voles, which eat certain fungi. When voles eat these fungi, they also spread spores to the forest floor. Some of these spores grow around the roots of young trees, and help the trees to grow. They do this by sharing nutrients and preventing disease.
It's hard to predict what the correct answer might be, because it could be supported by some or all of this information. We can see if anything jumps out in the answer choices, or turn to a process of elimination. The correct answer will be strongly supported without needing arbitrary assumptions or going beyond the scope of the stimulus.
17.
The information above provides the ████ ███████ ███ █████ ███ ██ ███ █████████ ████████████
a
The presence of ███████ ████ ██ █ ██████ █████ ███ ████ ██████████ ███████ ██ ███ █████ ██████ █████
The stimulus explains a chain of events starting with rotting logs and ending with fungi that help growing trees to survive. If we collapse this chain to focus on just the first and last events, that strongly supports (A), because the end result of the logs is a beneficial effect for the trees.
b
The red-backed vole ██ ███████ ████ ██ ██████ █████████ ████ ███ ██████ ██ ███ █████ ██ █████
The stimulus tells us red-backed voles survive by eating fungi, but we don't know the specifics about the nutritional value of the fungi's spores. We don't know what parts are nutritious or not.
c
Young, growing trees █████ ███ ███████ ███████ ███ █████ ██ ██████████ ███ ██████ ██ ███████ ██████
The stimulus strongly supports the idea that voles distributing fungi can benefit trees, but (C) goes too far in making the voles a necessary condition for the trees' survival. Maybe another animal would spread spores, or the trees would survive without fungi.
d
The spores of ███████ █████ ██████ ██████ ██████ █████ ███ ██████ ███ ████ ██ █████████ ████ ███ █████ ██ ██████
The stimulus says that voles deposit spores on the forest floor, but it doesn't say whether that's necessary for the spores to stay viable.
e
Dead and decaying █████ ███ ███ █████ ███████████ ███ ███ ██████ ██ ███████ ██████
The stimulus doesn't tell us about the fungi's ideal habitat; even though it grows in a certain environment, there could still be a more ideal possible habitat.