You Are a Forester Charged with Increasing Productivity in a South

question 9

Multiple Choice

You are a forester charged with increasing productivity in a South American forest newly planted with pines from Oregon. You believe that the southern forest lacks the fungal diversity needed by the North American pines, and that this lack of fungi is affecting the pines' productivity, but you have no evidence to support your ideas. To count how many fungal species were present in the Oregon forest, which methodology would you choose, and why?

• A) Do direct sequencing on representative soil samples from across the forest.
• B) Collect all the fruiting structures mushrooms, morels, etc.) found aboveground.
• C) Expose the trees to radiolabelled CO₂ and then collect the soil samples with the greatest radioactivity and do direct sequencing.
• D) Count all the plant species and multiply by six, as David Hawksworth did when determining the ratio of fungal to plant species in England.

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Definitions:

Arthur Conan Doyle

A British writer renowned for his detective fiction featuring the character Sherlock Holmes.

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An official record book kept by the ship's officer, detailing the ship's course, speed, distance traveled, and significant events during the voyage.

Parallel Structure

The use of consistent grammatical form within a list or series of sentences to improve clarity and flow.

Sentence Variety

Sentence variety involves using different types and structures of sentences in writing to create a more interesting and engaging narrative or argument.