Question

read the passage. there are several questions about this passage. the author is a biologist and college professor. he is considered one of the worlds experts on snakes. from tracks and shadows 1 rainforests are dimly lit and exceptionally diverse—claustrophobically dark and fecund —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, 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 katydids 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 part b which excerpt from paragraph 4 best supports the correct answer from part a? 1. “ecotourists adore emerald - and - red quetzals and iridescent blue morphos” 2. “with coaching they might tolerate the jararaca pitvipers” 3. “predators are usually tough to see” 4. “after twelve months of fieldwork i still hadnt seen all the species” 1. attractive 2. mysterious 3. threatening 4. unusual

Explanation:

For Part A, the rainforest is described with unique and not - common elements like the lavender stripe of leaf - cutter ants, so "unusual" is the best fit. For Part B, the fact that after twelve months of fieldwork the author still hadn't seen all the species shows the unusual and vast diversity of the rainforest, supporting the answer in Part A.

Answer:

Part A: 4. unusual
Part B: 4. "after twelve months of fieldwork I still hadn't seen all the species"