Text 1

Microbes are tiny organisms in the soil, water, and air all around us. They thrive even in very harsh conditions. That's why Noah Fierer and colleagues were surprised when soil samples they collected from an extremely cold, dry area in Antarctica didn't seem to contain any life. The finding doesn't prove that there are no microbes in that area, but the team says it does suggest that the environment severely restricts microbes' survival.

Text 2

Microbes are found in virtually every environment on Earth. So it's unlikely they would be completely absent from Fierer's team's study site, no matter how extreme the environment is. There were probably so few organisms in the samples that current technology couldn't detect them. But since a spoonful of typical soil elsewhere might contain billions of microbes, the presence of so few in the Antarctic soil samples would show how challenging the conditions are.

Based on the texts, Fierer's team and the author of Text 2 would most likely agree with which statement about microbes?

Question

Text 1

Microbes are tiny organisms in the soil, water, and air all around us. They thrive even in very harsh conditions. That's why Noah Fierer and colleagues were surprised when soil samples they collected from an extremely cold, dry area in Antarctica didn't seem to contain any life. The finding doesn't prove that there are no microbes in that area, but the team says it does suggest that the environment severely restricts microbes' survival.

Text 2

Microbes are found in virtually every environment on Earth. So it's unlikely they would be completely absent from Fierer's team's study site, no matter how extreme the environment is. There were probably so few organisms in the samples that current technology couldn't detect them. But since a spoonful of typical soil elsewhere might contain billions of microbes, the presence of so few in the Antarctic soil samples would show how challenging the conditions are.

Based on the texts, Fierer's team and the author of Text 2 would most likely agree with which statement about microbes?

Accepted Answer

Microbes are likely difficult to detect in the soil at the Antarctic study site because they tend to be smaller than microbes found in typical soil elsewhere.

Answer

Most microbes are better able to survive in environments with extremely dry conditions than in environments with harsh temperatures.

Answer

A much higher number of microbes would probably be found if another sample of soil were taken from the Antarctica study site.