PT138.S1.P2.Q9

PrepTest 138 - Section 1 - Passage 2 - Question 9

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P1

The characteristic smell or taste of a plant, to insects as well as to humans, depends on its chemical composition. ███████ █████████ ██████ ███████ ███ ██████████ ██ ████████ ███████████ ███████ ███ ██████████ ███

Intro topic · Two kinds of chemicals in plants: primary and secondary
Chemicals determine smell and taste of plants to insects and humans.
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Primary substances · Stuff required for growth and functioning; found in all plants
███ █████████ ██████████ ███ █ ███████ ███ █████████████ █████ ██ █████████ ████ ████ ██ █████ ████ ██ ███ ████████ ████████ █████████ ██ ███████ ██████ ██ ███████████ ████ █ ███ ██ █████ ██████████ █████ ██ ███ ███ ███████ ██ ██████ ███ ███ ████ ██ ███████ ████ ████ ██ █████ ██ ███████ ██████ ████ ██ ███ ███████ ███████ ████ ██████████ █ ██████ ███████ ██ ██ █████ █████████ ██████████ ████ ████ ██████ █████ ███████████ ██████ ███ ███████

Secondary substances · No known role in growth/functioning; give plants distinctive tastes and smells
P2

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Origin of secondary substances · Insects played major role
████ ██████████ ███████████ █████ █████████ ███ ███ ████ ████████ ██ ███████ ██ ███ ██████ ██ ███████ █████████ ██ ██████████ ███████ ███ ██ █ ████████ ██ ██ ███████ ███ ██ ██████ ██ ██ ██████████ ████████████ ██ ████ ████ ███ ██████ ██ ███████ ████████████████ ███ ██ ████ ████████ ███ ██████████ ██ ███ ██████████ █████████ ███ ████████████ ████ █████████ ██████████ ███ ███████ ██ ███████ █████████ ███████ ████ ███ ██████ ████ ███████ ███████████ ███████ ██ █████████ ████ ██████ ██████ ███ ████████ ██ ███████ █████ █████████ ███ ███████ ███████ ██████ ██ ███ ███████ ███
Causal mechanism 1 · Insects like some scents over others
Secondary substances result from mutations. Insects prefer some scents over others, which means the substances that produce those preferred scents are more likely to be passed on to future generations.
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Causal mechanism 2 · Some substances produce stuff that helps defend against insects
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Causal mechanism 3 · Some substances produce stuff that warns insects not to eat the plant
P3

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Competition between insects and plants · Insects evolve to respond to plants' defenses
Might evolve way to detoxify plant's poison or store the poison in an unharmful way, for example. Might evolve way to identify poisonous plants.
Passage Style
Phenomenon-hypothesis (RC)
Single position
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9.

Which one of the following ██ █████████ ██ ███ ███████ ██ █ ███ ██ █████ ███████ ███ █████ ████ █ █████ ████████ ████████ ███████ █████

a

to start eating █████████ ████ ███████

Stated.

92%
b

to avoid plants ████ ███████ ███████████ ████ ██ ██████ ██████████

The author mentions that insects might come to prefer plants with certain flavors or odors, but she never mentions avoidance of plants with certain leaf or flower structures as a way of adapting to defenses.

2%
c

to increase their ████ ██ ████████████

The author never mentions that insects can increase their rate of reproduction as a way to adapt to plants.

1%
d

to pollinate other ███████ ██ ██████

The author never mentions pollinating other plants as a way to adapt to a plant’s defenses. Although she mentions avoidance of certain plants as food, this doesn’t constitute avoidance of pollinating certain plants.

1%
e

to avoid contact ████ ███ █████████ █████ ██ ███ █████

The author never mentions avoidance of dangerous parts of a plant as a way to adapt to a plant’s defenses. The author does mention evolving a way to store harmful substances from a plant in a way that doesn’t hurt the insect, but this isn’t the same as avoiding contact with the dangerous parts of a plant.

5%

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