Information and IdeasHardInference
Information and Ideas practice question
A team compared two nearby lakes. In the lake stocked with introduced trout, populations of native frogs had collapsed, while the trout-free lake still teemed with frogs. The trout are known to eat frog tadpoles.
Which choice most logically completes the text with a conclusion the evidence supports?
- A. The introduced trout likely contributed to the decline of the native frogs.Correct
- B. The native frogs will soon disappear from every lake in the region.
- C. The trout-free lake has warmer water than the stocked lake.
- D. Native frogs cannot survive in any lake that contains fish.
Answer: A. The introduced trout likely contributed to the decline of the native frogs.
Frogs collapsed only where trout that eat tadpoles were introduced, while a comparable trout-free lake still had frogs — this points to the trout contributing to the decline (A). B and D overgeneralize ('every lake,' 'any lake with fish') far beyond the two-lake comparison; C introduces water temperature, which the text never mentions.
Why the other answers are wrong
- B. The native frogs will soon disappear from every lake in the region.
- The evidence covers exactly two lakes, and one of them still teems with frogs, so predicting disappearance from *every* lake in the region goes far past what the comparison shows.
- C. The trout-free lake has warmer water than the stocked lake.
- Water temperature is never mentioned; the only difference the text identifies between the lakes is the presence of tadpole-eating trout.
- D. Native frogs cannot survive in any lake that contains fish.
- The study involves one species of introduced trout in one lake, which can't support a claim about frogs in *any* lake containing *any* fish.
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