PrepTest 137, Section 1, Question 16
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)
Passage A, but not passage(13 more words not shown)
- ATheir research has(10 more words not shown)
- BThey are inconsistent(11 more words not shown)
- CMost agree that(5 more words not shown)
- DBefore Elton, most(12 more words not shown)
- EThey do not(10 more words not shown)
Reading the passage
A gives us an old view followed by a change: many conservationists shared Elton's focus on disturbed habitats, but ecologists now recognize threats even to pristine, species-rich places. B instead cites ecological research to support its claims about local diversity and ecosystem change. The answer has to satisfy both parts of the question: A asserts it about ecologists, and B does not. A plausible general belief about scientists isn't enough.
Working the answers
- A
A mentions damage and control costs, but it doesn't limit the research to economic effects. Its account also concerns native species, habitat, sunlight, and water flow. Limited to studying economic impact isn't supported.
- B
Neither writer describes ecologists inconsistently applying a definition of ecosystem. Disagreeing about the effects of introductions doesn't by itself establish inconsistent criteria.
- C
Extinctions appear explicitly in B, but A doesn't report what most ecologists agree about them. A's description of serious harm isn't a statement about the proportion of researchers holding this particular view.
- D
A doesn't describe ecologists' priorities before Elton or limit those priorities to local biodiversity. Its historical contrast concerns disturbed versus pristine habitats. Local species counts are part of B's different argument.
- ECorrect
A contrasts the earlier view with what ecologists realize “now, however”: introduced species threaten even pristine habitats. That marks the departure from the earlier focus on disturbed places. B doesn't discuss Elton or describe this change in ecologists' views.
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