LSAT 155 – Section 2 – Question 12

LSAT 155 - Section 2 - Question 12

November 2019

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Question
QuickView		 Type Tags Answer
Choices		 Curve Question
Difficulty		 Psg/Game/S
Difficulty		 Explanation
PT155 S2 Q12
+LR
Resolve reconcile or explain +RRE
Critique or Debate +CritDeb
Problem-Analysis +Prob
Causal Reasoning +CausR
A
2%
150
B
4%
148
C
0%
144
D
2%
150
E
92%
160
129
137
145
 +Easier 145.934 +SubsectionMedium

After the disastrous 1986 accident at the Chernobyl nuclear plant, the surrounding area was contaminated with radiation. Wild animals that are now there have very high levels of radiation in their muscles and bones. And yet since the disaster, wildlife populations in the region have expanded rapidly.

"Surprising" Phenomenon
Despite having high radiation levels, wildlife populations around Chernobyl have expanded rapidly.

Objective
The right answer will be a hypothesis that explains why wildlife populations expanded after the Chernobyl accident, despite the high levels of radiation wildlife populations have. This explanation must result in population increases being a likely outcome given the circumstances after the accident. These circumstances must outweigh the negative effects of the radiation.

A
Animals that did not arrive in the area around the Chernobyl nuclear plant until after the accident still developed high levels of radiation in their muscles and bones.
We need to know why these animals were still able to proliferate despite high levels of radiation. This doesn’t offer an explanation for that peculiar phenomenon.
B
Some of the species that inhabit the region are migratory and so only live in the region for part of the year, limiting their exposure to the radiation.
The stimulus tells us that wildlife populations generally have high levels of radiation. We’re not interested in a few outliers.
C
The region affected by the release of radiation is very large, encompassing 1,800 square miles (4,660 square kilometers).
All this says is that lots of wildlife populations were likely affected by the radiation. We need to know why their populations expanded.
D
While some of the radioactive chemicals released by the accident depress fertility in local birds, others do not.
Like (B), “some” signifies an outlier. We need to know why wildlife populations in general expanded despite having high levels of radiation.
E
The threat of radiation poisoning drove people out of the area, which opened up new habitat for wildlife and eliminated the danger from hunters.
Though radiation may be a threat in itself, wildlife populations were generally safer after Chernobyl. For one thing, they had a larger habitat since humans had to leave. For another, there were no more hunters around. This explains why their populations increased.

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LSAT PrepTest 155 Explanations

Section 1 - Logical Reasoning

Section 2 - Logical Reasoning

Section 3 - Reading Comprehension

Section 4 - Logical Reasoning

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