medium · GRE Verbal
Marine ecologist: Fragments of staghorn coral raised in offshore nurseries survive transplantation onto damaged reefs at rates above ninety percent, and nursery-raised corals reach reproductive maturity roughly twice as fast as wild colonies do. **Nursery propagation can therefore restock a damaged reef far faster than natural recovery can.** Speed is not a luxury here: a reef that remains sparse for a decade loses the grazing fish populations that keep algae from smothering any new coral, making later recovery harder still. Alternative approaches, such as simply protecting a reef and waiting, cannot match this pace. **Consequently, agencies that fund reef restoration should direct the bulk of their budgets toward nursery propagation programs.**
In the argument above, the two portions in boldface play which of the following roles?
- The first is evidence offered in direct support of the argument's main conclusion; the second is a restatement of that main conclusion.
- The first is the main conclusion of the argument; the second is a further recommendation that follows from that conclusion.
- The first is a claim that the argument disputes; the second is the position the argument ultimately defends in its place.
- The first is an intermediate conclusion of the argument; the second is a premise offered in support of that intermediate conclusion.
- The first is an intermediate conclusion that supports the argument's main conclusion; the second is the main conclusion itself.
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