Question

the passage is adapted from summer of betrayal by bernard wasserstein (2009) by bernard wasserstein. adaptation of plants to desert - arid dormancy, physical and behavioral adaptations. the ability of desert plants depend on a strategy that uses small water. they are annuals that spring up in dry, dormant - bear resistant seeds. some of these seeds may wait up to half a century before they germinate. the plants challenge is to be quick to respond to rain so that they can produce their seeds before the earth dries up again, while not jumping the gun until there is sufficient water for them to start growth to maturity for seed production. some plants balance on a tightrope by \measuring\ rainfall. they have chemicals in their seeds that inhibit germination, and a minimum amount of rain is required before these are leached out. others have seed coats that must be mechanically scarred to permit sufficient water intake for germination, and the scarring happens only when they are subjected to flash floods in the riverbeds where they grow. a plant in the negev desert releases its seed from a tough capsule only under the influence of water through a mechanism that resembles a roman catapult. its two outer sepals generate side - tension that can fling two seeds out of the fruit. the two seeds are held inside by a lock mechanism at the top. however, when the sepals are sufficiently wet, then the tension increases to such an extent that the lock mechanism snaps, and the capsule \explodes\ to release the seeds. in moist regions where it rains predictably (though not necessarily in abundance), we help agricultural plants by scarring the soil to capture the precipitation water into it, and hence increase the infiltration of the runoff and maximum water absorption achieved by plowing and maximum water absorption. however, such a method would not work in a true desert such as the negev. a different program is required there because frequent plowing would facilitate only the evaporation of scarce water from the soil. the solution of the people who inhabited the negev in past was a practice they called
unoff farming.\ they mastered harnessing the flash floods that rushed into the gullies by catching the runoffs - not only by making terraces but also by building large cisterns into which the water was directed to be held for future use. remnants of these constructions still exist. storage mechanisms have been invented by plants and animals living in deserts, but mainly through modification of body plan. many plants, especially cacti, have the ability to swell their roots or stems as water stores. possibly the most familiar is the saguaro cactus, carnegiea gigantea, of the sonoran desert in the american southwest. it has a shallow root system that extends in all directions to distances of fifty feet. in one rainstorm the root system can take up 200 gallons of water, which are then transformed into its tall trunk. the trunk is pleated like an accordion and can swell to store tons of water that can last the plant for a year. the cactus has no leaves but the stem is green and can photosynthesize and produce nutrients as well as store water. the saguaros survival strategy requires it to grow extremely slowly but it lives a century or more. some desert animals similarly store water. the water - holding frog cyclorana platycephala, from the northern australian desert, fills up and greatly expands its urinary bladder to use as a water bag before burying itself in the soil where it spends most of the year waiting for the next rain. while in the ground it sloughs off skin and forms around itself a nearly waterproof cocoon that resembles a plastic bag and reduces evaporative water loss. desert ants of a variety of species (at least seven different genera) in american as well as australian deserts collectively called \honeypot ants\ have evolved a solution that combines water storage and energy storage. ants typically feed each other with some of the larger worker ants taking up more liquid than the others, and others may bring more. those that take the fluid may gorge themselves until they distend their abdomens up to the size of a grape. by this time they are unable to move from the spot. they then hang in groups of dozens to hundreds from the ceiling of a chamber in the ant nest, where they are then the specialized so - called repletes that later regurgitate fluid when the colony members are no longer bringing the fluid in but rather needing it. 31. the fourth paragraph (lines 63 - 71) marks a shift in the focus of the passage from a. plants that store water above ground to plants that store water below ground b. animals that dont go dormant to animals that do go dormant c. desert - dwelling plants to desert - dwelling animals d. inhabitants of the negev desert to inhabitants of northern australian deserts 32. based on the passage, the authors use of the word \measuring\ (line 12) most nearly describes the way that some desert plants f. have roots that are extremely sensitive to moisture levels in the soil g. have methods of delaying seed germination until a certain amount of water is present h. are visibly more vigorous after a rainfall j. can calculate how many inches of rain have fallen in recent days

Explanation:

1. The passage initially focuses on desert - dwelling plants and then in the fourth paragraph shifts to desert - dwelling animals.
2. The word "measuring" in the context of desert plants refers to their ability to delay seed germination until a certain amount of water is present.

Answer:

1. C. desert - dwelling plants to desert - dwelling animals
2. G. have methods of delaying seed germination until a certain amount of water is present