PrepTest 127 - Section 4 - Passage 2 - Question 13

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Mechanisms for recognizing kin are found throughout the plant and animal kingdoms, regardless of an organism's social or mental complexity. ████████████ ██ ███ ███████ █████████████ ██ █████ ██████████ ████ ██████ ████ ███████████ █████████ ██ ███ ████████ ██ ███ ███ ███████████ ██████ ██ ████ ███

Phenomenon · Many plants and animals can recognize "kin" (relatives)

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Inclusive fitness hypothesis · Organisms transmit genetic material through relatives (not just offspring)

Contrast inclusive fitness with traditional view of evolution. Under traditional view, natural selection favors those with the most offspring. Inclusive fitness suggests natural selection also favors organisms who help their relatives (because this helps spread the organism's own genes).

Inclusive fitness applied · Helps to explain why social insects like bees evolved

Inclusive fitness applied · Theory predicts that cannibals will avoid eating their own relatives

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Example of theory applied to cannibals · Spadefood toad tadpoles

Some tadpoles eat their own species. But they nip at other tadpoles before eating, and end up eating only nonsiblings. Suggests they're trying to avoid eating their kin. But, they're more likely to eat kin when they're very hungry.

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Other explanations for kin recognition · Inclusive fitness theory isn't the only explanation

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Example showing other explanation · Tiger salamander larva

Some larva are cannibals. The bacteria are more deadly to close relatives, because the relatives have a similar immune system to the infected larva. So, when tiger salamanders avoid eating their close relatives, it could be because they just don't want to die from the bacteria in their relatives. This is about the organism's individual self-interest, not about trying to increase overall genetic representation.

Passage Style

Phenomenon-hypothesis (RC)

Single position

13.

The passage states which one ██ ███ █████████ █████ ███ ██████████ ████ ██████ █████████ ██ █████████ █████ █████ ███████ ██████████

Question Type

Stated

The author mentions “mechanisms” for kin recognition at the beginning of P1. So the correct answer might find support from that part of the passage. But we’re also told about a mechanism for kin recognition in tadpoles. Perhaps the correct answer could come from that part.

The mechanisms are ████ ██████ █████████ ██ ██ ██████ ████ ████ ████ █ ███████ ███████ ██ ███ ███████ ██████████ ██ ███ ████████ ██████ ██ ██████ █████████████

Not supported, because the author doesn’t state anything about what would make the mechanisms easier to explain. Although we know mechanisms for kin recognition exist in organisms of different complexities, we have no idea how those different complexity levels relate to an explanation of the mechanisms.

The mechanisms have ██████ ████ ███████ ███████████ █████████ ████████ ██ ███ ███████ ████ ██████

Stated.

50%

The mechanisms have ██████ ███ █████ ██ ███████████ █████████ ████ █████ ███ ██████

Although we’re told that inclusive fitness theory was developed in the 1960s, this doesn’t imply that we did not focus on explaining the mechanisms before 1960. Perhaps we turned our attention to the theoretical basis of kin recognition in the 1950s, and inclusive fitness theory came along after several years of that attention.

The detailed workings ██ █████ ██████████ ████ ██ ██████ ██████████ ██████ █████ ███████ ███ ██ █████ ██████████

The author doesn’t state what is required before we can fully explain the mechanisms of kin recognition. You cannot point to any line that states we need to understand the detailed workings of kin recognition mechanisms.

12%

The mechanisms operate ███████████ ██ █████████ ███████ ████ ████ ████ █████ ███████ ███ ████ █████████

Not stated, because we don’t know that kin recognition can have different mechanisms when the underlying purpose of kin recognition in those species is the same. You cannot point to any line or collection of lines that shows when the purpose of kin recognition is the same, there can be different mechanisms for recognizing kin.

31%

PrepTest 127 - Section 4 - Passage 2 - Question 13

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