Information and IdeasEasyInferences (drawing a supported inference from a research summary)
Information and Ideas practice question
Ecologists monitored a field in Illinois that had been replanted with native prairie species. Each summer they counted the number of native bee species visiting the site. In the first summer after planting, they recorded 12 bee species. By the fifth summer, when the field contained many more kinds of flowering plants than it had in the first year, the researchers recorded 41 bee species. The researchers never brought bees to the field; all of the bees arrived on their own from surrounding areas.
Based on the text, what can most reasonably be inferred about the increase in the number of bee species at the field?
- A. It occurred because the researchers released additional bees at the field each summer.
- B. It was likely related to the increase in the variety of flowering plants growing at the field.Correct
- C. It proves that native bees cannot survive anywhere except in restored prairies.
- D. It happened even though the number of plant species at the field stayed the same.
Answer: B. It was likely related to the increase in the variety of flowering plants growing at the field.
The text pairs the rise from 12 to 41 bee species with the fact that the field had 'many more kinds of flowering plants' by year five, so linking the two is the supported inference. (A) directly contradicts the statement that the researchers never brought bees to the field. (C) overgeneralizes: the passage says the bees arrived from surrounding areas, which shows they were already living outside the restored field. (D) contradicts the text, which explicitly reports an increase in the kinds of flowering plants.
Why the other answers are wrong
- A. It occurred because the researchers released additional bees at the field each summer.
- The text says directly that the researchers never brought bees to the field and that all the bees arrived on their own, so this contradicts the passage.
- C. It proves that native bees cannot survive anywhere except in restored prairies.
- The bees arrived from surrounding areas, which means they were already living outside the restored prairie — the opposite of what this choice claims.
- D. It happened even though the number of plant species at the field stayed the same.
- The text explicitly says the field contained many more kinds of flowering plants by the fifth summer, so the plant variety did not stay the same.
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