#13 - Shelton: The recent sharp decline in the number

[Administrator]

Please post your questions below!

[SamSachsDE]

Please post your questions below!

I'm a little confused by the wording of the correct answer. When it says "ranges" is it saying that the Moose and Deer inhabit similar areas, so the deer impact the moose population, but in the other are they don't interact? I'm thinking "home home on the range" for the use of this term.

[Malila Robinson]

Hi SamSachsDE,
Range refers to the area where the animals are roaming (moving around). So in Russo's example they might inhabit the same region, but if the deer stay to the east of the region and the moose to the west then the parasites may not be as much of an issue. And in Shelton's example if the ranges overlap within the region then the spread of the parasite would be more likely.
Hope that helps!
-Malila

[ameliakate]

I selected the right answer for this question, but I briefly considered C. Answer C seemed almost like an alternative explanation. The moose population wasn’t falling because the wolves preyed on a wider variety of species, whereas this was not the case in the declining region. I opted for answer D because it connected the moose, white tail deer, and parasite.

Is there another interpretation for why c is incorrect?

[Adam Tyson]

The answer to a Resolve the Paradox question must address BOTH sides of the paradox, ameliakate. In the case of answer C, what do the habits of the wolves tell us about the declining population of moose in the first region? One might even think that the increase in deer would give the wolves there more opportunity to eat deer rather than moose, and the moose population might be expected to grow rather than decrease!

Aside from answer C's failure to address what's happening in the first region, the issue in the stimulus that must be addressed in the answer is that in one place, more deer has caused fewer moose, and in the other place more deer has NOT caused fewer moose. We know why the moose are declining in the first region - it's because of the parasites carried by the deer. What we need is an answer that tells us why that same effect is not present in the second region. Why aren't the moose there affected by the deer-borne parasite? That's the "paradox", if you can call it that, that needs to be addressed. Wolves in that region also eating rabbits and squirrels and elk doesn't explain why the moose aren't declining from the same parasite.

Be sure to address both sides of the paradox, and explain why both things can be simultaneously true and make sense. That's the kind of active resolution we need!