PrepTest 140, Section 3, Question 16
Zoologist: In the Lake Champlain area, as the(93 more words not shown)
Each of the following, if(7 more words not shown)
- AReproduction in predator(12 more words not shown)
- BLocal weather patterns(19 more words not shown)
- CBrighter light during(15 more words not shown)
- DThe variation from(34 more words not shown)
- ESunspot activity is(15 more words not shown)
Reading the argument
A local rise and fall makes sense. More hares support more predators; the growing threat pushes hares into places with less food; fewer hares then support fewer predators. Once the pressure eases, the hare population can grow again.
But why should populations everywhere keep time together? A cycle in one ecosystem doesn't automatically explain synchronized cycles across different places. If all the populations were part of one connected ecosystem, shared local pressures might help explain it. We aren't given that account, though, and the zoologist proposes a broader influence: sunspot activity.
The matching cycles make that proposal worth considering. What could the connection be? Perhaps some change associated with sunspots affects the conditions the hares live in. We need evidence linking the solar activity to the population cycle, not just any fact about things that affect animals.
What we’re looking for
This is a strengthen EXCEPT question. Four choices will give the proposed connection some support. Pick the one that doesn't. A choice can support the argument by suggesting how the effect happens or by providing an additional matching pattern; it needn't establish the cause beyond doubt.
Working the answers
- A
This supports the argument. Sunspot activity affects reproductive processes in predators, leading to more reproduction. More predators can affect the hares through the pressure described in the passage. That gives us a path from sunspots to predator numbers to hare numbers, so A isn't the exception.
- BCorrect
These weather patterns can occur with or without sunspot activity. Although the patterns can affect populations, B doesn't tie their occurrence to sunspots or show that sunspots contribute to the hare cycle. A factor that influences animals is not automatically evidence for this particular proposed cause.
- C
This supports a different path: brighter light during sunspot activity helps predators find and catch hares. That would allow sunspots to affect hare numbers through hunting success even without changing how many predators there are. It supports the zoologist, so eliminate it.
- D
The correspondence now includes the size of the rises and falls, not just their timing. Cycles with different intensities of sunspot activity correspond to different magnitudes of hare-population change. That additional pattern supports a connection, even though it doesn't explain the mechanism or prove causation.
- E
Food quality could provide a link. If changes in the nutritional value of the hares' food track sunspot activity, the food offers a possible route by which that activity affects the population. E still reports a correlation rather than establishing every causal step, but it supplies relevant additional support. We are looking for the choice that supplies none.
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