PrepTest 157, Section 4, Question 21
Political arguments about biodiversity and the preservation of(443 more words not shown)
It can be inferred from(23 more words not shown)
- AThere are considerably(11 more words not shown)
- BMembers of two(18 more words not shown)
- CSome animal species(9 more words not shown)
- DThere is less(11 more words not shown)
- ECurrent debates over(14 more words not shown)
Reading the passage
This asks what a supporter of the biological species concept would disagree with. Those supporters are associated with lumpers: they keep similar populations within one species when reproductive evidence supports doing so, rather than recognizing additional species from distinctive traits alone.
What we’re looking for
We therefore want a claim pulling toward a substantial increase in recognized species. A claim compatible with lumping is a reason to reject that answer here, not to choose it.
Working the answers
- ACorrect
Claiming that there are considerably more bird species than currently recognized favors the splitter side: more populations should receive their own species status. Given the described contrast, a proponent of the previously dominant biological approach is most likely to resist that broad expansion. This is a comparison of positions, not proof that such a scientist could never recognize an additional species.
- B
This fits the biological approach. Physical differences need not establish separate species if the populations interbreed. Because the proponent could agree with B, it doesn't answer a disagreement question.
- C
Nothing attributes a position about supposedly extinct species having surviving members to these proponents. The classification criterion doesn't establish disagreement with that claim.
- D
No view about biodiversity 50 years ago is provided. A rule for classifying organisms isn't evidence of this historical comparison.
- E
The author identifies political stakes, but the biological concept doesn't itself deny political motivations in scientific debates. We aren't given grounds to attribute that disagreement to its proponents.
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