PrepTest 124, Section 4, Question 23
Sometimes there is no more effective means of(444 more words not shown)
Suppose that pesticide X drastically(62 more words not shown)
- AIn both treated(17 more words not shown)
- BCyclamen mite populations(24 more words not shown)
- CIn the treated(20 more words not shown)
- DIn the treated(12 more words not shown)
- EIn the treated(24 more words not shown)
Reading the passage
Replace the chemical, then track what changes. Parathion killed the predator without affecting the pest. Pesticide X instead drastically slows the pest's reproduction and has no other direct effect on either mite.
What we’re looking for
That should favor control of cyclamen mites: the predators remain, and their prey reproduce more slowly. But slower reproduction isn't the same as directly killing every existing mite. We shouldn't predict complete elimination from what the question gives us.
Working the answers
- ACorrect
“The latter” refers to cyclamen mites, the second of the two mite species named. It does not mean only the untreated plots. The answer says cyclamen mites would be controlled in both kinds of plots inhabited by both species.
In untreated plots, Typhlodromus keep the pests in check as before. In treated plots, X slows cyclamen reproduction without directly harming the predators that already control them. Both support effective control. We don't need to compare which group would have the fewest pests.
- B
This makes that unsupported comparison. It says X without predators would produce substantially lower pest populations than predators without X. We haven't been given enough information to rank those two forms of control.
- C
Slowing reproduction doesn't by itself establish a loss of seasonal synchrony. A change in how quickly the pests reproduce needn't change the timing relationship in the way C predicts.
- D
Fewer prey could affect predator numbers indirectly; no direct effect doesn't mean no possible indirect effect. But the question supplies no basis for this particular decline-then-recovery pattern, especially the eventual increase.
- E
This assumes pests will reach damaging levels and remain there longer. The predators haven't been removed, and the pests' reproduction has been slowed. Nothing explains why that combination would produce the prolonged damaging infestation E predicts.
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