PrepTest 148, Section 1, Question 8
For a species of large abalone shellfish to(61 more words not shown)
Which one of the following,(13 more words not shown)
- AOtters and abalones(16 more words not shown)
- BThe fossils that(18 more words not shown)
- COtters also prey(17 more words not shown)
- DSmall abalone species(9 more words not shown)
- EOtters have a(17 more words not shown)
Reading the argument
Wouldn't more otters mean more energy spent avoiding being eaten? The passage says larger abalones develop when less energy goes into finding food and escaping predators, leaving more for competition in mating. A new dominant predator seems likely to push that budget in the wrong direction.
What we’re looking for
To resolve this discrepancy, my first guess is that otters might prefer small abalones. If being larger made an abalone less likely to be eaten, that could give larger size an advantage. We'd still want to fit the explanation with the stated energy requirements, but it is one possibility to investigate.
Working the answers
- A
This adds another burden on the abalones. Besides threatening to eat them, the otters would be competing for their food. That doesn't explain how the abalones could free up energy for mating competition; it makes obtaining food sound harder too.
- B
Studying only one of two large species doesn't explain the development that was observed. Even if the other species evolved under completely different conditions, we still need to account for this species becoming larger after otters dominated its waters.
- CCorrect
This takes a different route from the size-preference guess. The otters eat animals that compete with abalones for food. With fewer competitors, abalones can get food more easily and spend less energy finding it. That offers a way to free up energy for mating competition even though the otters also pose a predatory threat. We shouldn't look only at the added danger; the otters can also change the food supply in the abalones' favor.
- D
How rapidly small and large species reproduce doesn't explain how the required energy shift became possible after otters arrived. The puzzle isn't simply why one size produces more offspring. It is why the larger species developed under conditions that seem to increase the demands of avoiding predators.
- E
This sounds like the preference idea, but the preference runs the opposite way. If otters favor large abalones, growing larger doesn't offer the protection I was considering. E also doesn't explain a saving in food-finding or predator-avoidance energy that could account for the observed development.
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