PrepTest 104, Section 2, Question 16
Many birds that form flocks compete through aggressive(453 more words not shown)
The author refers to the(23 more words not shown)
- Asupport the conclusion(12 more words not shown)
- Bargue that plumage(11 more words not shown)
- Cindicate that in(16 more words not shown)
- Ddemonstrate that Harris(14 more words not shown)
- Esuggest that the(13 more words not shown)
Reading the passage
Dark throats might tell us how old the sparrows are. That matters because adults already have higher status than juveniles. If the color mainly distinguishes those age groups, it hasn't shown us which individual bird outranks another within the same age group.
What we’re looking for
That's why this detail appears in the criticism of Rohwer's work. We need the answer that connects it to that criticism.
Working the answers
- ACorrect
The age difference offers a narrower explanation for the pattern Rohwer found. Dark plumage can mark the higher-status adult group without reliably ranking individuals within that group. The paragraph ends by saying the age-related differences do not signal individual status “within an age class.”
- B
This reverses the writer's conclusion about Harris sparrows. Rohwer thinks they support the hypothesis; the writer argues that his evidence falls short.
- C
The writer limits what the sparrow evidence establishes, but never proposes changing the hypothesis itself.
- D
Nothing ranks Harris sparrows as the most appropriate subjects. In fact, the greater titmouse supplies the “best evidence” here. A study's failure to support a hypothesis wouldn't by itself make its subjects unsuitable, but it certainly doesn't establish this claim.
- E
We're discussing one species. That doesn't establish how widespread age-related signaling is among birds that form flocks.
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