Critical Reasoning

Dutch elm disease, which is caused by the fungus C. ulmi spread by adult scolytid beetles, has already destroyed 70 percent of the elms in Greenwood Forest. Another naturally occurring fungus, P. oblonga, kills larvae of the scolytid beetle. Forest rangers plan to introduce P. oblonga into Greenwood Forest in order to save the remaining mature elms.

Which of the following, if true about P. oblonga, provides the strongest evidence that the plan will succeed?
(A) It is spread by a variety of birds that nest in trees that are the home of scolytid beetle larvae.
(B) It has been known to lie dormant within a tree for up to ten years before it begins to reproduce.
(C) It spreads more slowly than C. ulmi, under most climatic conditions.
(D) It does not destroy some commonly found subspecies of scolytid beetles.
(E) It has been known to kill maple trees by destroying their root systems.

OA is A.

pareekbharat86 wrote:Dutch elm disease, which is caused by the fungus C. ulmi spread by adult scolytid beetles, has already destroyed 70 percent of the elms in Greenwood Forest. Another naturally occurring fungus, P. oblonga, kills larvae of the scolytid beetle. Forest rangers plan to introduce P. oblonga into Greenwood Forest in order to save the remaining mature elms.

Elm Diesease - Caused by fungus C. ulmi destroyed 70% of forest , spread by adult scolytid beetles

P. oblonga - Kills larvae of the scolytid beetle.

Forest rangers plan to introduce P. oblonga to save the remaining mature elms.



Which of the following, if true about P. oblonga, provides the strongest evidence that the plan will succeed?


(A) It is spread by a variety of birds that nest in trees that are the home of scolytid beetle larvae.

P. oblonga will be spread by birds which reside in the pockets of scolytid beetle larvae , hence seems easier to achieve the desired goal...

Seems to support the plan..

(B) It has been known to lie dormant within a tree for up to ten years before it begins to reproduce.

Weakening the plan..

(C) It spreads more slowly than C. ulmi, under most climatic conditions.

Weakening / Providing obstacles..

(D) It does not destroy some commonly found subspecies of scolytid beetles.

Not supporting the desired action..

(E) It has been known to kill maple trees by destroying their root systems.

Absolutely not what is desired , we must try to kill larvae of the scolytid beetle , but the given option shows it will lead to creation of another issue which is not what is desirable...


Hence IMO (A)...[/u]