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Verbal·Expression of Ideas·Rhetorical Synthesis
hard
While researching a topic, a student has taken the following notes:
  • The growth-survival paradigm (GSP) posits that faster-growing fish larvae will have higher rates of survival to maturity than will slower-growing larvae.
  • Aril Slotte et al. (2019) tested the GSP’s applicability to cohorts of Atlantic herring (Clupea harengus).
  • Finding: The survival rate of slower-growing C. harengus larvae was significantly higher than that of relatively fast-growing C. harengus larvae.
  • Dominique Robert et al. (2023) reviewed 153 studies of the GSP conducted between 1971 and 2022, including Slotte’s team’s study.
  • Robert et al.: “The GSP was supported in the majority of cases,” but a “non-negligible proportion of reviewed studies demonstrated the occurrence of selection [favoring] slow-growing individuals in the field, a possibility generally disregarded in the…GSP.”
The student wants to place the finding of Slotte’s team’s study in the context of the 2023 review. Which choice most effectively uses relevant information from the notes to accomplish this goal?
A
Demonstrating that slower-growing larvae had a survival advantage over faster-growing larvae, Slotte’s team’s finding regarding C. harengus was consistent with those of the majority of studies included in the review.
B
Presenting evidence of differing survival rates among C. harengus larvae, Slotte’s team’s study reinforces the review’s contention that the GSP’s applicability to slower-growing larvae tends to be overlooked.
C
Reporting survival outcomes among C. harengus larvae that contradict the GSP’s predictions, Slotte’s team’s study is one of several in the review that highlight the paradigm’s limitations.
D
Suggesting the absence of a relationship between growth rates and survival outcomes, Slotte’s team’s study of C. harengus larvae is among those in the review that undermine the GSP.