wild mushroom--good one

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wild mushroom--good one

by maihuna » Thu Aug 20, 2009 2:00 pm
The chanterelle, a type of wild mushroom, grows beneath host trees such as the Douglas fir, which provide it with necessary sugars. The underground filaments of chanterelles, which extract the sugars, in turn provide nutrients and water for their hosts. Because of this mutually beneficial relationship, harvesting the chanterelles growing beneath a Douglas fir seriously endangers the tree.
Which of the following, if true, casts the most doubt on the conclusion drawn above?
(A) The number of wild mushrooms harvested has increased in recent years.
(B) Chanterelles grow not only beneath Douglas firs but also beneath other host trees.
(C) Many types of wild mushrooms are found only in forests and cannot easily be grown elsewhere.
(D) The harvesting of wild mushrooms stimulates future growth of those mushrooms.
(E) Young Douglas fir seedlings die without the nutrients and water provided by chanterelle filaments.
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Wild Mushrooms

by brad@knewton » Thu Aug 20, 2009 4:45 pm
Pretty straight forward Weaken question here. Let's break the argument down:

Conclusion: Harvesting the chanterelle mushrooms seriously hurts the Douglas firs.

Evidence: There is a symbiotic relationship between the trees and the fungi. The mushroom's filaments provide water and nutrients for the trees.

There are a couple of assumptions present in this argument which you should be able to identify:

(1) The nutrients and water are critical for the trees survival.
(2) The trees don't have another adequate source of nutrients and water.

Knowing our job on Weaken questions is to find the answer choice which makes the conclusion less likely to be true (and that it typically involves attacking an identified assumption) we have some pretty strong footing here. In essence, we're looking for the answer that says, "No, the trees aren't as likely to be in trouble".

(D) Does exactly that. If the harvesting of chanterelles actually results in stimulating chanterelle growth, then harvesting the mushrooms doesn't stop the flow of water and nutrients to the tree. In fact, it actually provides a situation in which we may increase the amount of water and nutrients available to the tree.

Admittedly, harvesting the mushrooms may result in a short term problem for the trees, but remember: our job on weaken questions isn't to disprove the argument. We need only make the argument less likely to be true (less likely the trees are in serious danger).

Choices (A),(B), and (C) are all irrelevant. They should leave you asking yourself "who cares?" Trends in harvesting, other trees, and other mushrooms are outside the scope of this argument.

Choice (E) is exactly the opposite of what we're looking for: it strengthens the conclusion. If young Douglas firs DIE without these nutrients, then surely they ARE in serious danger when we harvest the mushrooms. We should have expected at least one wrong answer to strengthen this argument; opposite answers are very common wrong answers to Strengthen/Weaken questions.

All in all, very straightforward. On Strengthen/Weaken get the conclusion down clearly; without it, you cannot do your job.
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by mehravikas » Thu Aug 20, 2009 7:23 pm
IMO - D...nice explanation given above.

Good Question.

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by gmatmachoman » Fri Aug 21, 2009 10:10 am
IMO D

Pretty Straight forward!!!!! :D

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by kris77 » Sun May 15, 2016 3:57 pm
I'd say D but I'm afraid more because of my intuition than any logic