Critical Reasoning

In Brazil, side-by-side comparisons of Africanized honeybees and the native honeybees have shown that the Africanized bees are far superior honey producers. Therefore, there is no reason to fear that domestic commercial honey production will decline in the United States if local honeybees are displaced by Africanized honeybees.
Each of the following, if true, would weaken the argument EXCEPT:
(A) The honeybees native to Brazil are not of the same variety as those most frequently used in the commercial beekeeping industry in the United States.
(B) Commercial honey production is far more complicated and expensive with Africanized honeybees than it is with the more docile honeybees common in the United States.
(C) If Africanized honeybees replace local honeybees, certain types of ornamental trees will be less effectively pollinated.
(D) In the United States a significant proportion of the commercial honey supply comes from hobby beekeepers, many of whom are likely to abandon beekeeping with the influx of Africanized bees.
(E) The area of Brazil where the comparative study was done is far better suited to the foraging habits of the Africanized honeybees than are most areas of the United States.

chendawg wrote:For most it comes down to A or C. The other answers are more apparent.

For A, if this were true, this would weaken the conclusion. This answer tells us that the honeybees native to Brazil are NOT LIKE the honeybees used in the commercial beekeeping industry in the United States. This tells us that if the honeybees are not alike, then we can't make a correct judgment on the effect of the Africanized honeybees on honey production, because if honeybees native to the US might make a lot more honey than the native Brazilian honeybees, then the conclusion is destroyed.

For C, this does not affect the conclusion, simply because we have nothing to conclude about how the pollination of certain types of ornamental trees affects honey production.

The correct answer is C.