Victory for the ACT Student Text 15e

R EADING T EST M ECHANICS • 89

TIME TRIAL ȍ͹ items; 3 minutesȎ

bases. If pollution and dams were the major cause of the extinctions, then why were the runs not made extinct on the Penobscot, a heavily dammed and polluted river in Maine? Why did salmon runs become extinct downstream of the dams on the Connecticut River? The general lack of success in salmon restoration programs over the last two centuries suggests a fundamental ecological cause for impoverished salmon runs in New England rather than an anthropogenic one. 1. The primary purpose of the passage is to: A. propose a long term plan for restoring salmon runs to the rivers of New England. B. undermine the theory that human activity caused the extinction of salmon runs in New England rivers. C. demonstrate that anthropogenic factors are often more powerful than natural ones in shaping the environment. D. provide evidence that the disappearance of Salmo salar was caused by the damming and pollution of the rivers. 2. The author cites the lack of salmon bones in archaeological digs as evidence that: F. the salmon population in New England rivers declined sharply after the end of the Little Ice Age. G. aboriginal Americans, who consumed ‘–Š‡” ϐ‹•Š •’‡…‹‡•ǡ ”‡ˆ—•‡† –‘ ‡ƒ– –Š‡ abundant salmon. H. salmon were not available to aboriginal Americans before the time ‘ˆ –Š‡ ƒ””‹˜ƒŽ ‘ˆ –Š‡ ϐ‹”•–…‘Ž‘‹•–•Ǥ J. anthropogenic factors were largely responsible for the extinction of the salmon runs.

DIRECTIONS: The passage below is followed by a set of items. Read the passage and choose the best answer for each item. You may refer to the passage as often as necessary to answer the items. PASSAGE I NATURAL SCIENCE: This passage is excerpted from an essay about the possible reasons for the extinction of salmon runs in New England rivers. Folklore holds that Atlantic salmon were once so abundant in New England rivers that early colonists walked across the „ƒ…• ‘ˆ –Š‡ ϐ‹•Š ƒ• –Š‡› ”ƒ —’ –Š‡ ”‹˜‡”• in spring. Then, according to the received wisdom, at the turn of the nineteenth century, increasing pollution in the rivers and the construction of large dams across rivers caused salmon to become severely depleted. If this theory were accurate, then there should be ample archaeological evidence that salmon played a major role in the diets of the aboriginal peoples of New England. But in site after site, although „‘‡• ‘ˆ ƒ› ‘–Š‡” ϐ‹•Š •’‡…‹‡• Šƒ˜‡ „‡‡ recovered, no salmon bones have been found. It’s more likely that the accounts of salmon were embellished by early writers. In fact, salmon did not begin to colonize New England streams until a period of climatic cooling known as the Little Ice Age (C.E. 1550–1800). At the end of this period, the climatic warming created less favorable environmental conditions for salmon. Thus, their range retracted. The idea that initial colonization did not occur until this time, and then only as a temporary range expansion, explains the lack of salmon in prehistoric sites and the depletion of the ϐ‹•Š ƒ– –Š‡ ‡† ‘ˆ –Š‡ ‡‹‰Š–‡‡–Š…‡–—”›Ǥ Š‹Ž‡ ƒ—–Š‘”‹–‹‡• •—…Š ƒ• Ǥ Ǥ —ϐ‹ have stated that “the circumstances leading to the demise of Salmo salar are relatively simple to identify” and have cited dams, pollution, logging practices, and over- ϐ‹•Š‹‰ǡ…ƒ—•‡• „‡Š‹† ‹–• †‡‹•‡ ƒ”‡ ‘”‡ complex, with ecological and climatological

ͺͶ

ͺͻ

5

10

15

20

25

30

35