#22 - Specific Reference, Must Be True

[Crayola99]

I chose answer (E) primarily because the last sentence of the third paragraph says high-latitude habitat tundra are expected to experience the GREASTEST temperature increase. I thought this implies that peat decomposes less rapidly in any other type of habitat (e.g. low-latitude).

I feel (C) is less directly answered since I had associated that Billings specifically addressed only the "tundra" when stating "in a warmer world, increased plant growth would not compensate for this rapid increase in decomposition rates".

Any thoughts on where my interpretation went wrong would be appreciated. Thank you!

[Adam Tyson]

The problem with answer E, Crayola99, is that while we might know something about where the greatest temperature increase is expected to occur, we have no information about how quickly peat would decompose in some other environment. Maybe in the tropics peat decomposes much faster than it does in the tundra, even with smaller temperature increases? Maybe in a temperate forest peat decomposes at an astonishingly high rate? Billings never compared the rate of decomposition of peat in the tundra to the rate of its decomposition anywhere else (at least, not within the scope of what this passage told us). That's why the research does not address this issue, according to the passage.