PrepTest 127, Section 4, Question 8
Mechanisms for recognizing kin are found throughout the(466 more words not shown)
Which one of the following(9 more words not shown)
- ASome findings support(27 more words not shown)
- BCurrent research supports(25 more words not shown)
- CRecent research involving(18 more words not shown)
- DNew research involving(32 more words not shown)
- EWhile traditional evolutionary(21 more words not shown)
Reading the passage
We've already predicted that inclusive fitness theory helps explain why organisms recognize relatives: helping kin can preserve shared genes. That's a useful starting point. Now check whether the answer also makes room for the final paragraph, rather than stopping with the earlier supporting examples.
Working the answers
- ACorrect
The first half gives the inclusive-fitness explanation without using its name. The qualification then accounts for the salamanders: avoiding a dangerous infection can protect the organism itself. A captures both the support for the theory and the reason our initial shorthand shouldn't become a claim that it explains everything.
- B
This compares the variety of recognition mechanisms with the variety of purposes. Our focus is why recognition occurs, not a survey establishing how varied its mechanisms are.
- C
The salamanders introduce another explanation; they don't show that the earlier explanation fails wherever it applies. C also attributes the targeted hypothesis to traditional theorists, rather than capturing the inclusive-fitness discussion.
- D
We aren't told that people who consider only tadpoles underestimate the evidence for traditional theory. This invents a comparison between those people's judgments and the salamander research.
- E
“Fully explained” erases the final paragraph's alternative. A theory that helps explain the examples isn't thereby a complete explanation of every instance.
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