RC Question 7 Explanation
DISCUSSION: You have to read the earlier lines to understand what ‘succession’ means. It refers to human-sculpted pine forests that changed back to their natural state when humans went away.
___________
- No. In this case, the succession is forests returning to their natural state when humans stopped burning them.
- The opposite: the Nicaraguan pine forests turned back to tropical forests.
- Close, but it’s implied that natives settled the land then abandoned it.
- CORRECT. Pine forests turned into natural, mixed forests.
- Nope. Lines 55-56 talk about settlements being abandoned.
Hi. Here, how do you know the succession is referring to forests returning to their natural state when humans stopped burning them, and not the clearing followed by regular burning (answer A)? Thanks.
Clearing followed by regular burning is a succession that is mentioned, but, importantly, it comes before another succession, pine forests –> hardwoods (the natural state of the land): “when these settlements were abandoned, the land returned to mixed hardwoods”. Because the latter succession is closest to the phrase “this transition”, we know “this” is referring to the latter succession.