medium · SAT Reading & Writing

Which choice most logically completes the text? Mountain larkspur, Delphinium glaucum, blooms markedly later in the season than its lowland relatives, a difference many botanists have attributed to the short growing seasons at high altitude. But when researchers transplanted mountain larkspur into lowland plots and grew it alongside those relatives, it kept its late bloom time. The result suggests that the timing of the bloom _______.

1. is primarily driven by the intensity of sunlight rather than by the length of the growing season.
2. will eventually synchronize with that of lowland relatives after several generations in the lowlands.
3. is a fixed inherited trait rather than a direct response to environmental cues.
4. shows that the species cannot complete its life cycle in lowland conditions.

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