Anna University Chennai 2008 B.A GE1352 Communications skills Laboratory - Question Paper

Since the Hawaiian Islands have never been connected to other land masses, the great variety of plants in Hawaii must be a outcome of the long-distance dispersal of seeds, a process that requires both a method of transport and an equivalence ranging from the ecology of the source area and that of the recipient area.
There is a few dispute about the method of transport involved. a few biologists argue that ocean and air currents are responsible for the transport of plant seeds to Hawaii. Yet the outcomes of flotation experiments and the low temperatures of air currents cast doubt on these hypotheses. More probable is bird transport, either externally, by accidental attachment of the seeds to feathers, or internally, by the swallowing of fruit and following excretion of the seeds. While it is likely that fewer varieties of plant seeds have reached Hawaii externally than internally, more varieties are known to be adapted to external than to internal transport.
1. The writer of the passage is primarily concerned with
(a) Discussing various approaches biologists have taken to testing theories about the distribution of plants in Hawaii.
(b) Discussing various theories about the transport of plant seeds to Hawaii
(c) Discussing the extent to which air currents are responsible for the dispersal of plant seeds to Hawaii
(d) Resolving a dispute about the adaptability of plant seeds to bird transport

2. The writer mentions the outcomes of flotation experiments on plant seeds most probably in order to
(a) support the claim that the distribution of plants in Hawaii is the outcome of the long-distance dispersal of seeds.
(b) Lend credibility to the thesis that air currents give a method of transport for plant seeds to Hawaii
(c) Suggest that the long-distance dispersal of seeds is a process that requires long periods of time
(d) Challenge the claim that ocean currents are responsible for the transport of plant seeds to Hawaii
3. It can be inferred from info in the passage that the existence in alpine regions of Hawaii of a plant species that also grows in the southwestern United States would justify which of the subsequent conclusions?
(a) The ecology of the southwestern United States is similar in important respects to the ecology of alpine regions of Hawaii.
(b) There are ocean currents that flow from the southwestern United States to Hawaii.

Earning:   Approval pending.