PrepTest 107, Section 4, Question 8
Conservationist: The population of a certain wildflower is(69 more words not shown)
Which one of the following(9 more words not shown)
- AThe wildflower currently(5 more words not shown)
- BThe domesticated daisy(12 more words not shown)
- CIncreasing the population(8 more words not shown)
- DWildflower-daisy hybrids will(4 more words not shown)
- EThe domesticated daisy(6 more words not shown)
Reading the argument
A larger population sounds promising, but it would be a population of hybrids. The conservationist admits that these plants would differ markedly from the wildflower we're trying to save.
That makes me ask whether the change is worth it. Perhaps keeping the wildflower in some altered form is better than losing it entirely. But the passage hasn't established that preference. What if the features we care about are lost in the hybrid? The fact that an intervention is possible doesn't by itself show that we should pursue it.
What we’re looking for
We're asked for an assumption the reasoning depends on. My first prediction is that the conservationist regards hybrids as preferable to extinction. The recommendation needs that kind of justification. But it might also depend on something about whether the proposed method will work, so we should test the actual choices rather than insist on only the gap we've first noticed.
Working the answers
- A
The argument needs cross-pollination to produce viable seeds. It doesn't need seeds to be the wildflower's only possible method of reproduction. Another reproductive method could exist and still be insufficient to prevent the decline. A's claim that there are no other methods is unnecessary.
- B
The daisy's ancestry isn't what makes the proposal work. The relevant fact is that it can cross-pollinate with this wildflower. Whether its ancestors once lived in the same range doesn't determine whether introducing it now can produce hybrids and help prevent total loss.
- C
Saving a population within its existing range doesn't require expanding that range. There could be more plants in the same area. The conservationist's stated goal is avoiding total loss in that area, not establishing the wildflower somewhere new.
- DCorrect
This identifies a practical requirement rather than the preference I initially predicted. The hybrids must themselves be able to reproduce.
Imagine the wildflowers and daisies producing a large first generation of hybrids, but none of those hybrids can produce offspring. When the original wildflowers are gone and that hybrid generation dies, what continues? Nothing. The plan has postponed the loss by a generation rather than prevented it. Producing viable seeds from the initial cross doesn't automatically establish that the plants grown from those seeds can reproduce in turn. The conservationist needs that next step.
- E
The daisy only needs to cross-pollinate with the particular wildflower in this proposal. It needn't cross with every plant that resembles a daisy. A broad claim about all daisylike plants adds a requirement the conservationist never relies on.
More Necessary Assumption questions
Learn the LSAT our way
Our platform drills Necessary Assumption questions at your level and adjusts as you improve.