Question

disappearing ohio butterflies affects all insects
by vicky stein

for my 11th birthday, i received a perfect, weird, road - trip amusement: a book filled with pictures and descriptions to help kids decode the splatters of insects that smacked into the front of a moving vehicle. whether that sounds like macabre fun or makes you grumble about keeping the windshield clean, a steep decline in reported bug splatters in recent years should actually make us worried, entomologists and ecologists say.

in a new study published tuesday in plos one, a group of researchers analyzed one of the rare data sets that tracks butterfly abundance, taken from 21 years of volunteer surveys in ohio. they found an

use the excerpt from butterflies are disappearing in ohio. here’s what that means for insects everywhere to answer the question.
what main claim does the author make in the passage? (1 point)
○ some butterfly populations are stable.
○ butterfly populations are declining.
○ people dislike having to clean their windshields.
○ a study about butterflies was recently published.

Explanation:

To determine the main claim, we analyze each option:

• "Some butterfly populations are stable" is not supported as the passage focuses on decline.
• "Butterfly populations are declining" aligns with the excerpt's mention of a "steep decline in reported bug splatters" (implying insect, including butterfly, decline) and the study on butterfly abundance.
• "People dislike having to clean their windshields" is a minor detail, not the main claim.
• "A study about butterflies was recently published" is a detail, not the main claim about the impact of disappearing butterflies.

Answer:

B. Butterfly populations are declining.