#17 - Since mosquito larvae are aquatic, outbreaks of

[Administrator]

Please post your questions below!

[Khodi7531]

Test day I got this right. But don't see how C is correct and barley understand what this stimulus is saying.


Because mosquito larvae are aquatic, there are increases in outbreaks of mosquito disease when the weather is wet. But this isn't the case of increase outbreaks when they breed primarily in wetlands. Outbreaks in these areas ARE WORSE after periods of drought. I don't understand...does worse = less in this context? It can't be saying the disease has gotten even worse because C does not help that case at all.



When they breed only in wetlands, the prey that exists there on the mosquito larvae is then more present, killing them. So that makes the disease...."worse"?


Not understanding the breakdown of this argument if anyone can please help.

[ahhe223]

I thought it was the drought that would limit the population of the predatory insects that typically prey on the mosquito larvae. When the predatory insects are limited during the drought, the mosquito larvae have opportunity to reproduce without the typical predeatory population. Thus, after the drought, the outbreaks are magnified. That is what I thought, but I could be wrong?

[Khodi7531]

Wow. I see my issue now. I was just in my own head. I knew something was confusing me cause on test day it took me 5 seconds I circled C and moved on. On review I was stuck for 5 minutes

[Jonathan Evans]

Yes, Ahhe! You are absolutely correct, and Khodi, I am pleased that Ahhe's post helped clear this up for you. Please follow up with further questions. Good work both of you!

[theamazingrace]

Hi, I am a bit confused. I thought C was the right answer because if mosquito larvae start to breed in the wetland habitat prior to the drought then when the drought does happen the prey is left with what the larvae have breaded. So, it makes sense that mosquito-born disease would be higher after the drought if numerous aquatic insects preyed on the mosquito larvae

[KelseyWoods]

Hi Chizobao!

Mosquito-borne diseases are diseases that are spread by mosquitoes biting other organisms. So outbreaks of mosquito-borne diseases would be higher when there are more mosquitoes. Since mosquito larvae are aquatic, then, it would make sense that outbreaks of mosquito-borne diseases increase after periods of wet weather because it's easier for mosquitoes to breed in wet weather. More water = more larvae = more mosquitoes = more outbreaks. The paradox is why in wetland habitats the opposite seems to be true--outbreaks of mosquito-borne diseases are worse after droughts.

Answer choice (C) resolves this paradox because it tells us that "Wetland habitats contain numerous aquatic insects that prey on mosquito larvae." Since these insect predators are aquatic, that means that during droughts there would be fewer of them to prey on the mosquito larvae. Fewer predators = more larvae = more mosquitoes = more outbreaks.

Hope this helps!

Best,
Kelsey

[frk215]

Hello, I just wanted to ask for further clarification on part of your explanation. We can infer that the predatory insects would be less populous during a drought because we are told within answer choice c that they are "aquatic" and from the first line of the stimulus we are meant to infer that aquatic insect = increased population during extended periods of wet weather, right? I was hesitant picking C even though I did end up choosing it solely because I was hesitant about making that inference.

Thank you!

[Robert Carroll]

frk,

I hesitate to say that it's an inference that aquatic insects' population increases when the weather is wet, and decreases when there's a drought. It's reasonable to think it's quite likely to happen, though, and that's why answer choice (C) provides a plausible explanation of the paradox. And the first sentence is not the basis for the interpretation that aquatic insects' population in general varies with the weather - that first sentence tells me something only about mosquitos. We just need a plausible explanation of the paradox, and, because it's reasonable already to think that aquatic insects could vary in population as we already stated, it's reasonable to think answer choice (C) would resolve the paradox.

Robert Carroll

[lsatstudying11]

Hello,

I had a question about answer choice E. After picking E, I can now see that C is the better answer since its connection to disease outbreak seems more clear. However, I am also wondering if another reason that E is wrong is because it does not actually resolve the discrepancy, since we don't know anything about plant growth in non-wetlands? With C, the idea of aquatic insects seems unique to wetlands since they live in water, whereas with E, we have no idea when new plant growth is conducive in non-wetlands. In other words, is E also problematic because it does not allow us to compare wetland versus non-wetland habits by noting some important difference that accounts for this discrepancy?

Thank you