Human Impacts on Biogeography Biologists, who commonly study the distribution of plant and animal species in different environments—their biogeography—strive to develop interpretations or explanations of the patterns of species distribution, but these may be incorrect if the effects of human beings are not taken into consideration. In some cases, these effects may be accidental; for example, some species of rat were unintentionally transported aboard ships from Europe to the islands of the South Pacific. In other cases, species distributions may have been deliberately modified by human beings. The Polynesians in the South Pacific intentionally moved the kumara (sweet potato) to islands in that region to provide the population with a new food crop. Which of the sentences below best expresses the essential information in the highlighted sentence in the passage? Incorrect choices change the meaning in important ways or leave out essential information. •A.In biogeography it is common to consider and study the effects of plantand animal species as they are distributed within environments wherehumans live.•B.Biologists who study environments in which pi ants and animals aredistributed have arrived at interpretations or explanations for howspecies succeed, but these may not be correct.•C.To understand plant and animal distribution patterns correctly,biologists must consider the role of hum an beings in the biogeographyof species.•D.It is common for biologists who try to understand the effects of humanson their environments to be incorrect in their explanations of certaindistribution patterns of plants and animals.In paragraph 1, the author makes the point that the relocations of rats and the kumara to new environments differed in •A.whether or not humans planned to transfer these species to a newenvironment•B.how far these species had to be transported to arrive at the newenvironment•C.how difficult it was for these species to become established in the newenvironment•D.whether or not these species succeeded in the new environmentThe relocation of species by humans (and more recently the imposition of restrictions on movement by way of national controls and world conventions) has been primarily for economic reasons and for environmental protection. For example, humans introduced Sitka spruce trees into Scotland and England from North America to use them as a timber crop. Similarly the Monterey pine tree was introduced into New Zealand in the nineteenth century from California and has become the most widely used species in the timber production industry in that country. The potato has been carried from its native home in the high Andes of South America, modified and developed into many varieties, and transported around the world because it can be used as a food crop. The plant formerly known as the Chinese gooseberry was relocated from its na...
