LR Problem Set #2, Q: 179

[moshei24]

Hi,

When doing this question, I didn't think that any answer was too good of a choice, but I ended up going with E, because I figured that maybe the recent climate permanently made it that crops couldn't be farmed in the winter, so going into the future, they still would go down in the amount they could farm even if the average temperature increases.

The correct answer was C. I don't see how C works. First off, aren't crop insect pests bad for crops? So wouldn't them not being established make it that the crops would actually increase more over the next century? But then if crop insect pests are actually good for crops (not sure how someone is to know that without outsides knowledge), then just like why E is wrong - just because the recent climate gives an issue during the Winter, doesn't mean that it's going to be a problem in the future - same thing for choice C - just because many crop insect pests couldn't be established now, doesn't mean they can't be established in the future. So why is C the right answer? Can you please explain this question to me?

Before I looked at the choices, I thought the answer was going to be because periods of higher temperature are only good when they happen once in awhile, but if they become commonplace, they would actually become damaging to the crops, because too much heat becomes bad. That's what I was looking for, and it wasn't one of the choices.

Please explain this question when you have a chance.

Thanks!

[moshei24]

I just looked this question over again, and I think I see what I missed in the first place.

E is wrong because we're dealing with times when the climate gets warmer. E is talking about the Winter - that's not important and it won't help resolve a paradox about what's occurring the warmer time periods. We're trying to explain how, currently, when the temperature gets warmer crops increase, but in the future that won't be the case.

And I think my original prephrase was in the right ballfield, just a little bit off. The reason C is the correct answer is because it explains the difference between the crop situation now and how it will be in the future. Now, all the annoying crop insect pests (which are bad for the crops) don't become established because of the weather, so when it gets warmer, the crops still do well because the good weather is good for the crops and there aren't any established pests, but in the future when the weather is constantly good, the pests will become established, and they will hurt the crops so even with the weather getting better, the pests will more than do their job and hurt the crops, which explains how in the future, crop yields will decrease.

*Pests hurting the crops > permanent temperature increase helping the crops.*

Thank you.

[Justin Eleff]

Just figured I'd confirm that your second pass indeed delivered you to the right answer and way of thinking. So: good work.

[moshei24]

Thank you.