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Verbal·Information and Ideas·Command of Evidence

hard

Some glass products contain aluminum oxide nanoparticles (${\text{Al}}_2{\text{O}}_3$-NPs), which can leach into waterways and soils via wastewater. In a 2010 study, Jacob K. Stanley and colleagues found that ${\text{Al}}_2{\text{O}}_3$-NPs can accumulate in the bodies of Asian clams (Corbicula fluminea). While bioaccumulation of manufactured nanoparticles may be inherently worrisome, it has been hypothesized that ${\text{Al}}_2{\text{O}}_3$-NP bioaccumulation in invertebrates like C. fluminea could serve a valuable proxy role, obviating the need for manufacturers to conduct costly and intrusive sampling of vertebrate species—such as Chinook salmon (Oncorhynchus tshawytscha), commonly used in regulatory compliance testing—for nanoparticle bioaccumulation, as environmental protection laws currently require.

Which finding, if true, would most directly weaken the hypothesis presented in the text?

A

${\text{Al}}_2{\text{O}}_3$-NP concentrations in C. fluminea show no reliable correlation with ${\text{Al}}_2{\text{O}}_3$-NP concentrations in O. tshawytscha when the two species are exposed to similar levels of ${\text{Al}}_2{\text{O}}_3$-NPs.

B

C. fluminea has been shown to accumulate several other types of manufactured nanoparticles in addition to ${\text{Al}}_2{\text{O}}_3$-NPs, whereas O. tshawytscha has been shown to accumulate only ${\text{Al}}_2{\text{O}}_3$-NPs.

C

Given comparable levels of exposure to ${\text{Al}}_2{\text{O}}_3$-NPs, C. fluminea accumulates ${\text{Al}}_2{\text{O}}_3$-NPs at a higher rate than O. tshawytscha does but in a fixed ratio to the rate at which O. tshawytscha does.

D

Compared with O. tshawytscha, C. fluminea can accumulate detectable ${\text{Al}}_2{\text{O}}_3$-NP concentrations with significantly fewer negative effects.