Question

continue reading about connections in a food chain. use the close reading and the hint to help you answer the question.
(continued from page 12)
if the snake population changes, other changes occur up and down the food chain. if the snake population increases, more snakes eat more mice. fewer mice are left to eat acorns, so perhaps more acorns grow into oak trees. in addition, more snakes would mean more food for the hawks. or, consider the alternative. if the snake population decreases, the mouse population would increase. more mice would eat more acorns, so fewer oak trees would grow. and the hawk population, without snakes to hunt, might decrease as well. changing one link in a food chain affects all of the other links, even if just in small ways.
circle the correct answer.
which of the following best summarizes the entire scientific account?
a some people think snakes are pests, but snakes are part of the food chain. they eat mice, which are the real pests.
b hawks are the fiercest predators in the food chain. they hunt snakes, keeping the snake population from getting too high.
c a changing snake population would affect hawks. they would have less to eat, so there would be fewer hawks.
d snakes play an important role in a complex food chain. their population size affects the number of mice, hawks, and oak trees.
show your thinking
look at one of the answers that you did not choose. explain why it is not a good summary.
find an answer that includes an opinion. talk with your partner about how you identified it.

Explanation:

To determine the best summary, we analyze each option:

• Option A: Introduces opinions (e.g., "snakes are pests", "mice are the real pests") and focuses on a narrow aspect (snakes vs. mice) rather than the overall food chain impact.
• Option B: Focuses only on hawks and snakes, ignoring the impact on mice, acorns, and oak trees, so it doesn't cover the entire account.
• Option C: Only addresses the impact on hawks when the snake population changes, missing the effects on mice, acorns, and oak trees, so it's incomplete.
• Option D: Accurately states that snake population changes affect hawks, mice, and oak trees (the entire food chain) without including opinions.

For the "Show Your Thinking" part, let's take Option A. It includes opinions (labeling snakes or mice as pests) and doesn't summarize the entire account about how changing the snake population affects all links in the food chain. It only focuses on a small part (snakes eating mice) and adds subjective views, so it's not a good summary.

For the "Find an answer that includes an opinion" part, Option A includes opinions (e.g., "snakes are pests", "mice are the real pests") because it's a subjective judgment about which animals are pests, while the passage is about objective food chain relationships.

Answer:

The best summary is D. Snakes play an important role in a complex food chain. Their population size affects the number of mice, hawks, and oak trees.
For the "Show Your Thinking" example (using Option A): Option A is not a good summary because it includes opinions (calling snakes or mice pests) and only focuses on a small part of the food chain (snakes and mice) instead of the overall impact of snake population changes on all links (mice, acorns, oak trees, hawks).
For the "Find an answer that includes an opinion": Option A includes an opinion (e.g., "snakes are pests", "mice are the real pests") as it presents subjective judgments about which animals are pests, unlike the objective food chain analysis in the passage.