LSAT 145 – Section 2 – Question 19

LSAT 145 - Section 2 - Question 19

December 2015

You need a full course to see this video. Enroll now and get started in less than a minute.

Request new explanation

Target time: 1:45

This is question data from the 7Sage LSAT Scorer. You can score your LSATs, track your results, and analyze your performance with pretty charts and vital statistics - all with a Free Account ← sign up in less than 10 seconds

Question
QuickView		 Type Tags Answer
Choices		 Curve Question
Difficulty		 Psg/Game/S
Difficulty		 Explanation
PT145 S2 Q19
+LR
Resolve reconcile or explain +RRE
Causal Reasoning +CausR
A
3%
156
B
70%
165
C
5%
158
D
4%
155
E
18%
159
145
155
164
 +Harder 145.859 +SubsectionMedium

Live Commentary

You need a full course to see this video. Enroll now and get started in less than a minute.

A recent study examined the daytime and nighttime activity patterns of two populations of tree-dwelling lemurs—the first living in a rain forest, where tree canopy cover is consistent year-round, and the second living in a deciduous forest, where many trees lose their leaves during the winter months. Both groups of lemurs were found to be more nocturnal during winter months than they were the rest of the year. However, the winter increase in nocturnal activity was significantly more pronounced for the population living in the deciduous forest than it was for the population living in the rain forest.

"Surprising" Phenomenon

Why does winter nocturnal activity increase much more for tree-dwelling lemurs in a deciduous forest, where trees lose leaves in winter, compared to those in a rainforest, where tree canopy cover stays the same all year?

Objective

The correct answer will propose a hypothesis explaining a key factor that causes lemurs in a deciduous forest to have more winter nocturnal activity than those in a rainforest. This factor must depend in some way on the tree canopy cover in the forest and will thus affect the lemurs’ behavior differently depending on their environment.

A
For both lemur populations, the primary competitors for food resources are species active during daylight.

The fact that both lemur populations’ competitors are active during daylight has nothing to do with tree canopy cover and does not explain why lemurs in the deciduous forest had much more nocturnal activity than those in the rainforest.

B
The primary predators for both lemur populations are high-flying birds that rely on their eyesight to hunt prey during daylight.

Lemurs in deciduous forests face greater predation risk in winter because the birds can see clearly without leaves. In rainforests, year-round leaves block these predators' view. Thus, to avoid predators, lemurs in deciduous forests are more active at night during the winter.

C
In both habitats, species of predatory snakes active during daylight are most active during winter months.

This might explain why both populations are more nocturnal during the winter. However, because the snakes’ hunting isn’t affected by tree canopy cover, it doesn’t explain why lemurs in deciduous forests have more nocturnal activity than those in rainforests during the winter.

D
The lemur population in the rain forest is twice the size of the population in the deciduous forest.

Population size doesn’t explain why the lemur population in the deciduous forest has more nocturnal activity in the winter than the lemur population in the rainforest. We need a factor that affects the lemurs differently based on the tree canopy cover of their environments.

E
The lemur population in the rain forest eats both plants and insects whereas the population in the deciduous forest eats only plants.

Why would eating only plants cause the lemurs in the deciduous forest to have more nocturnal activity in the winter? We still need a factor that affects the lemurs’ winter behavior differently based on the tree canopy cover of their environments.

Take PrepTest

Review Results

LSAT PrepTest 145 Explanations

Section 1 - Reading Comprehension

Section 2 - Logical Reasoning

Section 3 - Reading Comprehension

Section 4 - Logical Reasoning

Get full LSAT course

Leave a Reply