PrepTest 137, Section 1, Question 15
Passage A Until recently, conservationists were often complacent(466 more words not shown)
Passage A(224 more words not shown)
Passage B(250 more words not shown)
Both passages are concerned with(7 more words not shown)
- AWhy are some(8 more words not shown)
- BWhat distinguishes introduced(9 more words not shown)
- CWhat approach should(8 more words not shown)
- DHow are ecosystems(7 more words not shown)
- EHow are species(7 more words not shown)
Reading the passage
Both writers address what happens when species enter an ecosystem where they weren't native. A emphasizes threats to plants, habitat, and wildlife. B argues that introductions often add diversity or change an ecosystem without destroying it.
What we’re looking for
So our shared question is about the effects of introduction. The authors can answer that question differently and still be discussing the same issue. We aren't looking for a point they agree on.
Working the answers
- A
A introduces an older view about which habitats were most vulnerable, then challenges the complacency it encouraged. But explaining why some ecosystems are more vulnerable than others isn't the shared project, and B doesn't offer that comparison.
- B
B explicitly distinguishes damaging introductions from the many it calls harmless. Neither writer, however, gives a shared set of criteria for telling those kinds of species apart. Recognizing that harm varies isn't the same as explaining what distinguishes the species.
- C
A calls for concern, but doesn't propose a protective method. B challenges the broad characterization of introductions as harmful. Neither gives us a shared discussion of how to prevent or control them.
- DCorrect
A describes harmful effects on ecosystems; B argues that the effects are often transformation and increased local diversity. Those are competing answers to how ecosystems are affected.
- E
This asks how species travel beyond their native ecosystems. The discussion centers on what happens after they arrive, not the mechanisms by which they spread.
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