Question

read the passage. there are several questions about this passage. 1 rainforests are dimly lit and exceptionally diverse—claustrophobically dark and fecund¹—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,² then heaps of rotting fruit and a pile of cat droppings. rounding a trail curve im 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 katydids³ the size of small mice. 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 valleys floor to mount whitneys 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 selvas five square miles, as if a house full of serpents were packed into a thimble, and there are nearly four hundred species 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. this question has two parts. answer part a, and then answer part b. part a what is the authors main point of view about rainforests? 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. part b which aspect of the passage best reinforces the correct point of view from part a? 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 large assortment of plant and animal life is

Explanation:

For Part A, the passage emphasizes the diversity and the many interesting aspects of rainforests like the abundance of species, which makes it fascinating. For Part B, the details in paragraph 1 about the surprising features of plant and animal life in rainforests reinforce the idea that rainforests are fascinating due to species - abundance.

Answer:

Part A: 2. Rainforests are endlessly fascinating because of the abundance of species.
Part B: 1. In paragraph 1, the author recalls some surprising features of plant and animal life in rainforests.