SAT OwlQuestion bank / Rhetorical Synthesis
While researching a topic, a student has taken the following notes:
• Sea otters live along the coasts of the northern Pacific Ocean.
• Sea otters eat sea urchins, and sea urchins graze on kelp.
• Where sea otters were hunted to near extinction, urchin populations grew and kelp forests declined.
• Where sea otters have returned, kelp forests have recovered.
• Kelp forests provide habitat for many species of fish.
The student wants to explain how sea otters affect kelp forests. Which choice most effectively uses relevant information from the notes to accomplish this goal?
Kelp forests, which are grazed by sea urchins, provide habitat for many species of fish.
Sea otters, which live along the coasts of the northern Pacific, were once hunted to near extinction.
By eating sea urchins, which graze on kelp, sea otters help keep kelp forests from declining.
Sea otters eat sea urchins, and kelp forests provide habitat for fish.
Show answer and explanation
Answer: C
To explain how otters affect kelp, the sentence needs the full chain: otters eat urchins, urchins eat kelp, so otters protect kelp. Choice C lays out that chain. Choice D mentions otters eating urchins but jumps to fish habitat without linking otters to the kelp.
Choice D includes the first link in the chain, but it never connects sea otters to the health of kelp forests.
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