rts on snakes.,end italics,
from ,begin bold,Tracks and Shadows,end bold,
paragraph 1,Rainforests are dimly lit and exceptionally diverse—claustrophobically dark and fecund,superscript,1,baseline,—so no wonder tropical biologists end up puzzling over existential questions. At La Selva Biological Station in Costa Rica, giant trees with buttressed trunks tower overhead, obscuring the sky, and every glimpse holds the vibrant greens and somber browns of plants and their decaying remnants. After a torrential shower the air reverberates with the buzzes, whines, and clicks of insects. Mantled howler monkeys sound off in the distance. All around us leaf litter reeks from the chemical adventures of microbes, and over the course of hours my puny primate nose wrinkles toward some collared peccaries,,superscript,2,baseline, then heaps of rotting fruit and a pile of cat droppings. Rounding a trail curve I'm baffled by a shimmering lavender stripe, dozens of yards long and a half-inch tall; then I drop to my knees and contemplate thousands of leaf-cutter ants, each carrying a single delicate flower petal. And from time to time, slogging along the muddy paths, I imagine being overgrown by mosses and fungi, or devoured by spike-headed katydids,superscript,3,baseline, the size of small mice.
paragraph 2,Setting aside matters of life and death for the moment, what do ecologists mean by "exceptionally diverse," and why might anyone care? A comparison among some familiar places illustrates how numbers of species increase toward the Equator, culminating in unparalleled tropical richness. California reaches from Death Valley's floor to Mount Whitney's summit, spans parched salt flats to drenched redwood groves, and yet across ten degrees of latitude boasts only thirty-five species of snakes. Almost twice that number occur in La Selva's five square miles, as if a house full of serpents were packed into a thimble, and there are nearly four hundredspecies of birds, more than half as many as in the continental United States. Tropical faunas encompass more lifestyles too, thanks to rampant adaptive diversification; most temperate bats feed on insects, for example, whereas some of their hothouse relatives specialize on fruit, nectar, fish, frogs, or birds.
paragraph 3,This dramatic global variation has long intrigued naturalists, and its causes are partly understood. Rainforests usually occupy middle latitudes, so Earth's most biologically opulent regions are hot and wet. Some of them have been that way for millions of years, during which rising seas and tectonic events fragmented landscapes, catalyzing the origin of new species. More land, more sun, and more rain, coupled with geographical isolation and geological time, have fostered plant evolution—and thereby more plant-eating insects, insect-eating frogs, frog-eating snakes, and birds and mammals that eat them all. At local scales earthquakes, volcanoes, and windstorms annihilate chunks of habitat, which are then colonized by species that live in the resulting light gaps. Those sun-loving newcomers are eventually replaced by shade-tolerantspecies, so that natural disturbances further increase diversity by generating patchworks of succession in what at first glance appears to be unbroken forest.
paragraph 4,Tropical biotas,superscript,4,baseline, are also among the most endangered anywhere, their most charismatic inhabitants often difficult to find. Ecotourists adore emerald-and-redquetzals,superscript,5,baseline, and iridescent blue morphos,,superscript,6,baseline, and with coaching they might tolerate the jararaca pitvipers whose venom chemistry inspired a popular blood pressure drug. Predators are usually tough to see, though. Whereas in an hour a person might find dozens of snakes on a Missouri hillside, I averaged one a day at La Selva, and after twelve months of fieldwork I still hadn't seen all the species at that serpent-rich locale. Because rainforests don't offer Serengeti-like vistas, we can't drive folks through them in a safari van, striped like a baby tapir instead of a zebra, to show off the big cats. Instead, advocates need to cultivate perspectives that make those places ,begin italics,feel,end italics, wild, even if one doesn't see much that day. We should teach neophytes to flare their nostrils at unfamiliar odors, differentiate splayed tracks of jaguars from parallel-sided prints of mountain lions, and distinguish among the sounds of frogs and birds. With luck, visitors might overtake a white hawk, as I once did, so close on an overhanging limb that the immaculate bird seemed at first illusory.
paragraph 5,My fascination with steamy venues began on a childhood sojourn in the Philippines, enhanced by reading Raymond Ditmars's melodramatic tales of bushmasters and vampire bats. Years later, as a soldier I requested assignment to Panama, hoping to find exotic creatures and avoid combat, but was stationed in Germany instead. So my first tastes of the tropics came on grad school trips to Mexico and Guatemala. I've since enjoyed a decade of visits to La Selva and sporadic stints elsewhere in Latin America, Africa, and Asia. Studying feeding and defense in snakes justifies my travels, with diversity an overriding concern: How can so many species fit into hot wet places? Along the way I've also been enchanted with other predators, as well as impressed by how local peoples' lives play out and dismayed by the loss of tropical habitats. Just as deserts afford simplicity and clarity, I've learned, rainforests exemplify complexity and obscurity.
(Republished with permission of University of California Press - Books, from ,begin underline,Tracks and Shadows,end underline, by Harry W. Greene, copyright © 2013; permission conveyed through Copyright Clearance Center, Inc.)
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,begin bold,,superscript,1,baseline, fecund ,end bold, extremely fertile
,begin bold,,superscript,2,baseline,peccaries,end bold, piglike animals that are also known as javalinas
,begin bold,,superscript,3,baseline,katydids ,end bold,insects related to crickets and grasshoppers
,begin bold,,superscript,4,baseline, biotas ,end bold,the plants and animals found in particular areas
,begin bold,,superscript,5,baseline, quetzals ,end bold, colorful birds that are found in Central and South America
,begin bold,,superscript,6,baseline, morphos ,end bold, large butterflies with brilliant blue wings found in Central and South America
Question 1
This question has two parts. Answer Part A, and then answer Part B.
,begin emphasis,Part A,end emphasis,
What is the author's ,begin emphasis,main,end emphasis, point of view about rainforests?
Question 1 Answer options with 4 options
1.
Rainforests are more valuable than other geographical regions.
2.
Rainforests are endlessly fascinating because of the abundance of species.
3.
Rainforests lead scientists to ponder the answers to unanswered questions.
4.
Rainforests help people understand the long-term effects of geological change.
Question 2
,begin emphasis,Part B,end emphasis,
Which aspect of the passage ,begin emphasis,best,end emphasis, reinforces the correct point of view from Part A?
Question 2 Answer options with 4 options
1.
In paragraph 1, the author recalls some surprising features of plant and animal life in rainforests.
2.
In paragraph 3, the author explains why the largest assortment of plant and animal life is found in rainforests.
3.
In paragraph 4, the author gives advice about how to help tourists engage with the plant and animal life in rainforests.
4.
In paragraph 5, the author describes a lifelong interest in the plant and animal life in rainforests.
Question 1, Part A: The author's main point of view about rainforests is that they are endlessly fascinating because of the abundance of species.
Question 2, Part B: The aspect of the passage that best reinforces the correct point of view from Part A is in paragraph 1, where the author recalls the surprising features of plant and animal life in rainforests. This highlights the fascination and abundance of species in rainforests.
what's
the answerers
Answer 1:
Part A: The author's main point of view about rainforests is that they are endlessly fascinating because of the abundance of species.
Part B: The aspect of the passage that best reinforces this point of view is in paragraph 1 where the author describes the diverse and vibrant plant and animal life in rainforests, including encountering unique and intriguing creatures like leaf-cutter ants and spike-headed katydids.
Part A: The author's main point of view about rainforests is that they are endlessly fascinating because of the abundance of species. This is evident from the vivid descriptions of the diverse and thriving life in rainforests throughout the passage.
Part B: The aspect of the passage that best reinforces this point of view is in paragraph 4, where the author talks about the challenges of finding and seeing the various species in rainforests. The author mentions that rainforests don't offer easily visible predators like big cats, and tourists need to cultivate perspectives to appreciate the wildness of rainforests. This reinforces the idea that rainforests are not just valuable, but also require a deeper understanding and appreciation due to their complex and diverse ecosystems.