PrepTest 157, Section 4, Question 16
Political arguments about biodiversity and the preservation of(443 more words not shown)
According to the passage, which(11 more words not shown)
- AIt has effectively(6 more words not shown)
- BIts popularity has(8 more words not shown)
- CIt is more(9 more words not shown)
- DIt has more(8 more words not shown)
- EIt was pioneered(4 more words not shown)
Reading the passage
Locate the phylogenetic approach before evaluating the choices. Splitters tend to use it, and the first paragraph calls it “increasingly popular.” It identifies populations by distinctive, genetically traceable features and ancestry. Those are facts the author gives us; they don't establish that the approach has defeated its rivals or that Sibley invented it.
Working the answers
- A
A description of a competing approach isn't a demonstration that it has discredited other methods. The classification debate remains open.
- B
This goes against the stated growth in popularity. Nothing establishes a decline following Sibley's death.
- C
Birds supply the example, but there is no comparison of the approach's usefulness in ornithology and other biological sciences. Being illustrated in one field doesn't establish superiority there.
- DCorrect
Increasing popularity supports an increase in proponents. That is direct evidence for the answer; we don't need to infer the trend solely from the biological approach's earlier dominance.
- E
Sibley's work fits the splitter side of the debate, and he used a DNA-comparison technique. Neither fact says he pioneered the phylogenetic species concept. Using an approach and originating it are different claims.
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