TASK DEFINITION: You are given a background paragraph that describes one or more causal or qualitative relationships such as a relationship in economics or a scientific law and a story that makes use of the concepts or the relationship described in the provided paragraph. You are also given a question about the story that requires an understanding of the relationship described in the background paragraph and the story. You need to come up with an answer to the given question; the answer will be a span from either the question or the story. In order to correctly answer the given question, you need to understand the relationship mentioned in the background paragraph and should be able to use it to understand that in the story. Your answer can not consist of any word that is not mentioned in any of these: the background paragraph, the story, or the question. You can directly copy and paste a span from the story or the question while answering the given question.
PROBLEM: Background Paragraph: Sand mining is a direct cause of erosion, and impacts the local wildlife.[2] Various animals depend on sandy beaches for nesting clutches, and mining has led to the near extinction of gharials (a species of crocodile) in India. Disturbance of underwater and coastal sand causes turbidity in the water, which is harmful for organisms like coral that need sunlight. It can also destroy fisheries, financially harming their operators.

Removal of physical coastal barriers, such as dunes, sometimes leads to flooding of beachside communities, and the destruction of picturesque beaches causes tourism to dissipate. Sand mining is regulated by law in many places, but is often done illegally.[3] Globally, it is a $70 billion industry, with sand selling at up to $90 per cubic yard.[4]. 
Story: Twenty first century is seeing an explosion of artificial island building. Many countries are building islands in the middle of seas and oceans, which they often use for tourism or for defensive purposes. For example, UAE had build several islands in the Persian Gulf. To build those islands they had to ask Oman and Qatar to export sand to them. Qatar declined to export sand, but Oman agreed. Oman in turn had to mine huge quantity of sand in their own country. 
Question: Would Oman remove or retain their coaster barriers?

SOLUTION: remove.

PROBLEM: Background Paragraph: Like water in the ocean, air in the atmosphere exerts pressure that increases with depth. Most gas molecules in the atmosphere are pulled close to Earth’s surface by gravity. As a result, air pressure decreases quickly at lower altitudes and then more slowly at higher altitudes. This is illustrated in Figure below . Air pressure is greatest at sea level, where the depth of the atmosphere is greatest. At higher altitudes, the pressure is less because the depth of the atmosphere is less. For example, on top of Mount Everest, the tallest mountain on Earth, air pressure is only about one-third of the pressure at sea level. At such high altitudes, low air pressure makes it hard to breathe and is dangerous to human health. 
Story: Robert and his brother Timothy are both marathon runners. As marathon running is an endurance event, a key component is being able to replenish your oxygen supply by taking frequent breaths. This week, Robert is running a marathon in Colorado, which has low air pressures. Timothy is  also running a marathon, but he is running in Florida, which has high air pressures. 
Question: Who will have less difficulty in keeping a steady supply of oxygen during their marathon?

SOLUTION: Timothy.

PROBLEM: Background Paragraph: The lungs of mammals are unique in having alveoli . These are tiny, sac-like structures. Each alveolus is surrounded by a network of very small blood vessels (see Figure below ). Because there are millions of alveoli in each lung, they greatly increase the surface area for gas exchange between the lungs and bloodstream. Human lungs, for example, contain about 300 million alveoli. They give the lungs a total surface area for gas exchange of up to 90 square meters (968 square feet). That’s about as much surface area as one side of a volleyball court!. 
Story: David is investigating the breathing process of different organisms. He found that humans have alveoli to help them with gas exchange. He got curious about other organisms that do not have alveoli. To compare these two groups he labeled organisms with alveoli as group A and organisms without alveoli as group B. 
Question: Would group B have larger or smaller lungs surface area than group A?

SOLUTION:
smaller.