Question

Members of the tropical tree genus Ceiba currently grow in the rainforests of the Amazon. A paleontologist discovers several fossils that she attributes to this genus in the Pampas region of Argentina. This region is not currently covered with tropical rainforests. She concludes based on these fossils that this region of Argentina was covered with tropical rainforests in the past. This form of reasoning is known as

Answer 1

Complete question:

Members of the tropical tree genus Ceiba currently grow in the rainforests of the Amazon. A paleontologist discovers several fossils that she attributes to this genus in the Pampas region of Argentina. This region is not currently covered with tropical rainforests. She concludes based on these fossils that this region of Argentina was covered with tropical rainforests in the past. This form of reasoning is known as:

A.  

Deduction.

B.  

Induction.

C.  

Abduction.

D.  

A random guess.

Answer:

This form of reasoning is known as Deduction (Option A)

Explanation:

Induction: Might be defined as a process of initiation in something, such as a religion, a new job, a new activity, a new curse, etc.    

Abduction: Refers to the illegal act of taking someone somewhere by obligation or by force, against the person´s will. Also refers to the body´s extremities movement.  

A random guess: Refers to a random conjecture about something, with no basis or fundaments.

Deduction: The fact of answering a question or reaching a conclusion based on evidence or fundaments. Usually after a process of investigation or study, and knowing the facts.

The exposed situation is an example of a deduction made by the researcher. She bases her conclusion on the fact that Pampa´s fossils might be of the same genus as Amazonia´s trees, which means that in Argentina the environmental and climatic conditions were comparable to those in current Amazonia. Also, as a paleontologist, she must know about the biogeographic processes that modeled the earth and living beings. Her conclusions are not random. She has bases and fundaments to conclude that Argentina was once covered with tropical rainforests in the past.