Question 53·Medium·Inferences
To evaluate how plant composition influences urban pollinators during dry spells, Mira Patel monitored bee and hoverfly visits to 40 rooftop gardens across a city for two summers. At gardens where native wildflowers made up at least 60% of plant cover, visit rates stayed relatively high throughout a six-week late-summer drought and changed little after rain returned. At gardens dominated by nonnative ornamental plants, visit rates fell sharply during the drought but rebounded to pre-drought levels within two weeks of the first autumn storms. Because no garden was watered during the study (watering was prohibited citywide), Patel therefore concluded that ______
Which choice most logically completes the text?
For “complete the conclusion” questions, first identify the study’s main variable (what is being changed or compared) and the outcome (what is being measured). Then summarize the key pattern in your own words and ask: what limited, reasonable conclusion follows from that pattern? Use the passage’s explicit controls (like “no garden was watered”) to eliminate options that contradict given facts, and be especially wary of answers with extreme language such as “always,” “never,” or “permanently,” which usually go beyond what the data can support.
Hints
Focus on the study’s purpose
Look back at the first sentence: what is Patel trying to evaluate about the gardens, and during what kind of conditions?
Use the explicit control in the design
The passage states, “Because no garden was watered during the study (watering was prohibited citywide).” Which answer choices are inconsistent with that fact?
Watch out for overgeneralizations
Ask yourself: does the data from two summers and 40 gardens justify words like “always” or “permanently,” or is the conclusion likely to be more limited?
Connect patterns to plant types
Compare how pollinator visits changed in native-dominated gardens versus ornamental-dominated gardens during the drought and after rain. What kind of conclusion about plant composition would naturally follow?
Step-by-step Explanation
Identify what the study is testing
Start with the first sentence: Patel is evaluating how plant composition influences urban pollinators during dry spells. That means the key variable is the type of plants in the gardens (native wildflowers vs. nonnative ornamentals), and the outcome is pollinator visit rates.
Summarize the key results
Break down what happened in each type of garden:
- In gardens with at least 60% native wildflowers, visit rates stayed relatively high during the drought and changed little after rain returned.
- In gardens dominated by nonnative ornamentals, visit rates fell sharply during the drought but then rebounded to pre-drought levels within two weeks of the autumn storms.
- Also, no garden was watered during the study, so watering cannot explain differences between gardens.
Any valid conclusion has to be consistent with these observations and with the focus on plant composition.
Eliminate conclusions that contradict details or go beyond the evidence
Check each option against the passage:
- Any answer that blames watering differences contradicts the explicit statement that watering was prohibited citywide.
- Any answer that claims something happens “always” or under all conditions goes beyond what this two-summer drought study can show.
- Any answer that says the storms permanently changed pollinator populations over the whole city is much broader than the limited data from these 40 gardens and the short time frame.
This reasoning should let you rule out several choices before deciding which one fits best.
Match the remaining option to the patterns observed
Now choose the option that (1) focuses on plant composition, (2) fits the actual visit patterns during and after drought, and (3) stays within the study’s scope. The only answer that does this is A) native wildflowers likely provided pollinator resources that persisted through drought, whereas many ornamental nonnatives did not. This explains why visits stayed high in native-dominated gardens but dropped and then rebounded in ornamental-dominated gardens once rain returned.