Question 1
Read the following excerpt from the article and answer the question that follows.
However, as you heard, there will be other passengers who take advantage of this new trans-Arctic canal: marine organisms. For the first time in a million years, sea creatures will be able to migrate easily from the North Atlantic to the North Pacific. Whenever two previously isolated populations come into contact for the first time, it greatly changes the ecological balance: some organisms will face new predators; others will find easy-pickings in new hunting grounds. Many other interactions could greatly upset the food web in northern waters.
Which of the following statements provides the strongest evidence to support the idea that interactions between two previously isolated organisms can negatively impact the ecosystem?
Question 2
Read the following excerpt from the article and answer the questions that follow.
Other changes involve domino effects that are less than intuitive. For instance, every summer since 2002, a so-called "dead zone" has emerged off the coast of Oregon. Within the dead zone, which has covered an area the size of New Jersey, massive amounts of fish die in oxygen-starved water. Scientists have learned that climate change has shifted wind patterns in the area, which has increased the upwelling of nutrients in the offshore waters.
At first, you would think this was a good thing, since more nutrients can theoretically support more life. But what actually happens is that the nutrients breed more plankton and other small creatures than the top predators can eat. As these plankton die, they sink to the bottom of the sea, where they're consumed by bacteria that use up oxygen in their metabolic cycle. As oxygen levels drop, marine animals suffocate, just as we would if the air ran low on oxygen. Their dead bodies provide even more fuel to the bacteria, which consume even more oxygen.
What evidence does the author provide to explain the “domino effect” that creates the dead zone? Select ALL supporting evidence from the following quotes from the passage.
Question 3
Which of the following details from the article provides evidence that climate change is having a significant impact on the world’s oceans and marine life, which, in turn, impact humans?