PrepTest 101, Section 4, Question 16
When the same habitat types (forests, oceans, grasslands,(450 more words not shown)
Which one of the following(13 more words not shown)
- AThe many plants(11 more words not shown)
- BAn animal species(14 more words not shown)
- CWithin the small(13 more words not shown)
- DIn a tropical(16 more words not shown)
- EIn an arctic(13 more words not shown)
Reading the passage
For this question, set aside which theory the author ultimately prefers. We're looking for a situation that fits the species-energy hypothesis.
What we’re looking for
Its chain is more sunlight, faster growth and reproduction, more biomass, and more species. Biomass is the amount of living matter; species diversity is the number of different kinds. A situation matching one of those relationships would fit the theory, even though the author later questions the links.
Working the answers
- A
Many plants but few species resembles the author’s objection that abundant living matter can accompany low species diversity (paragraph 3). It doesn't illustrate the proposed link between abundant living matter and greater diversity.
- B
Rapid death can prevent rapid growth and reproduction from producing much accumulated biomass. This reflects an objection to the hypothesis, not its expected relationship.
- C
Few organisms but many species doesn't reflect the proposed connection between more biomass and more diversity. We also aren't given the desert's incoming solar energy.
- D
Local extinction in a large population doesn't illustrate the predicted reduction in extinction risk. A lower probability doesn't mean extinction is impossible, so this isn't necessarily a contradiction; it just offers less support for the expected relationship than E.
- ECorrect
Arctic organisms' slow growth and reproduction fit the low-sunlight side of the first relationship. The theory links more incoming sunlight with faster growth and reproduction (paragraph 3). The answer needn't demonstrate every link in the chain to match one directly.
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