3/4*Robots on the Reef/Something Fishy

What is one reason scientists are excited about the idea of using Coralbots to restore reefs?

• Coralbots will imitate insects and birds.

• Programming Coralbots takes less time than training a diver.

• Coralbots are unlikely to cause more damage to a reef.

• Coralbots will be able to repair reefs more effectively than divers can.

Noel Sharkey’s comment in paragraph 5 helps the reader understand how Coralbots would —

• work in groups to perform a task

• be preprogrammed to follow a set of rules

• give researchers a new way to collect data about coral reefs

• be used to perform difficult tasks on land as well as in the water

The author organizes the selection mainly by —

• discussing the activities that cause damage to coral reefs

• explaining how damage to coral reefs has become more severe over time

• describing how Coralbots could solve some problems associated with restoring coral reefs

• comparing the methods that divers use to repair coral reefs to the methods used by Coralbots

Which sentence from the selection best explains why the health of coral reefs is of great concern to scientists?

• Coral reefs are home to one-fourth of all marine life on the planet and serve as a natural barrier against damage caused by storms, hurricanes, and typhoons.

• These reefs can be damaged by natural disasters such as hurricanes, or they can be affected by human-related activities such as large ships running their hulls along a reef or fishing equipment scraping the sea floor.

• Scientists at CMBB hope to program Coralbots to locate colonies of endangered coral and reconstruct them.

• Scientists and volunteer divers work to reassemble damaged coral, but their success has been minimal.

What is the author’s primary purpose for writing "Something Fishy"?

• To highlight the importance of the fishing industry in cities along the Yangtze River

• To describe how Three Gorges Dam uses the flow of the Yangtze River to create energy for people in China

• To provide information about the different species of fish that populate the Yangtze River

• To explain how scientists monitor the impact of Three Gorges Dam and determine strategies for reversing its effects

Which sentence from the selection best supports the idea that careful adjustments to Three Gorges Dam can improve the quality of the Yangtze River?

• Ickes helped researchers embed transmitters into a small sample of fish in the Yangtze River basin.

• They hope to determine the right amount of water to release from the dam in order to support the natural breeding of the fish.

• The dam is located on the Yangtze River, one of the most important rivers in China, famed for its diverse wildlife.

• Other fish are important for maintaining the fishing industry, a major part of the economy for cities on the river.

The Latin word "ob," meaning “in the way,” helps the reader understand that the word "obstructs" in paragraph 2 means —

• reverses

• defeats

• lengthens

• hinders

By using transmitters to track the fish in the Yangtze River, researchers most likely will be able to —

• monitor the number of fish living in the river basin

• estimate how many fish are needed to sustain the population

• determine how changes to the river disrupt the life cycle of the fish

• learn which types of fish are preferred by the fishing industry in the surrounding cities

How are the problems discussed in “Robots on the Reef” and “Something Fishy” different?

• In “Robots on the Reef,” scientists have a plan to solve the problem, while in “Something Fishy,” scientists still need to determine the solution to the problem.

• In “Robots on the Reef,” experts are seeking a permanent solution to a problem, while in “Something Fishy,” experts are looking only for a temporary solution to a problem.

• In “Robots on the Reef,” the problem mainly affects life in the water, while in “Something Fishy,” the problem mainly affects life on land.

• In “Robots on the Reef,” the problem was caused intentionally, while in “Something Fishy,” the problem was caused accidentally.

How are the Coralbots discussed in “Robots on the Reef” and the fish transmitters discussed in “Something Fishy” similar?

• Both are designed to independently complete a task.

• Both assist scientists in tracking the amount of ocean life in a specific area.

• Both are meant to be used by scientists to help restore an environment.

• Both are programmed to model the behavior of insects.