PT157.S4.P3.Q16

PrepTest 157 - Section 4 - Passage 3 - Question 16

Hide analysis
P1

Political arguments about biodiversity and the preservation of endangered species generally assume we know what a species is. ███ █████████ ███ ████████ ██ ████ ███████████ █ ██████ ███████ ███ ████ ████ █ █████████ ███ █████████████ █████████ ███

Context · What's a "species"? Arguments about biodiversity assume we know this.
██████ ██████████████ ████████ ███ ██████ ████ ███ ████████ █████████ ███ █████ ████ █████████ ██ █████ ███████ █████████ ███ ████████████ ███████ █████ ███ █████ ████████ ███ ████ ███████ ███████████ ██ █████ ████ █ ██████ ███████ ███ █████ ███ ██████ ████ ███████████ ████ ████ ████████ ███
Debate among ornithologists · Lumpers vs. splitters
Lumpers group separate, but similar bird populations into a single species. Splitters divide those populations into different species.
██████████ ███ ███████ ██████ ████ ██ █████ ██ ███ ██████████ ███████ ████████ █████ █████ ████████ ███ ███ ████████ ████████ ██ ███████ ███████████████ ███ ██████████ ██████ █ ███████ ██ █ █████ ████ ██ ██████████████ ████████ ████ █████ ███████ █████ █████ ████ █████ ██ ██ ███████████ █████████████ ██ ███ ████ ███████ ███████ ██ ███ ███████ ███
Lumpers' perspective · Biological species concept
A species is a group that is reproductively isolated from other groups (not a lot of interbreeding in the wild between the groups).
██████████ ██ ███ █████ █████ ████ ██ ███ ███ ████████████ ███████ ████████████ ███████ ████████ █████ ███████ █ ███████ ██ █ █████████████ ███████████ █████ █████ █████ ██ █ ███████ ██ ████████ ███ ████████ █ ████████████ ███████ ██ █ ██████████ ██ █████ ███████ █████ █ ████████████ ███████████ █████████ ███████ ████ █████████████ ██ ████ █████ ████████████

Splitters' perspective · Phylogenetic species concept
A species is a population which has a pattern of ancestry and descent. Members of a species have a distinctive, genetically traceable feature.
P2

███ ████ ███████ ██ ███████ █ █████████ █████████████ ███ ███ ██ ███ █████████ ██ █ █████████████ ██████████ ██ █████ █████████ █████ ██ ██████ █ █████████ ██ ████ █ ███████ █████ ██ ███████ █████████████████████ ████████ ███ ████ █████████ ████████████ █████████ ███ █████████████ ██ ███ ███████ ████████ ██ ██████ ███

Intro to Sibley · Part of splitters. Used DNA-DNA hybridization.
This technique compares DNA to determine relationships between different groups birds.
████ ███ ███████ ██ █████████ ████ ████ ███████ ███████████████ ██ ███ █████████████ ██ ████ ████████ ████ ██████ ███ █████████ ██ ████ ████ ████████ █████ ██ █████ ███ █████ ███████ ████ ████ ███████ ███████ ██ ██████ ████ ██ ████████ █████████ ███ ████ █████ ███ ███████ █████ ████ ███████████ ███ ██████ ████ ███████ ████████ ████ ████

Sibley's perspective · Many earlier bird classifications were wrong
Examples: American vultures are more related to storks than European vultures. Loons and grebes aren't closely related.
P3

████████ ████ ███ ███ ████ ██████ █████████ █████ ███ ███ ████ ███ ████ ███ ██ ██ █████████████ ██ ███ █████████ ███ █████ ██ ███ ████████ ███████████ █████ ███ ██████ ███ ████████ ████ ███ ███ █████████ █████ ███████████ ██ █████████ ██████████ ██ █████████ ██ ███ ████████ ████ ██ ███ ███████ █████████ ███

One criticism of sibley (not by author) · DNA analysis still requires arbitrary interpretation
DNA shows differences between groups. But there's no clear line when those differences signify different species.
██████ █████ ███ ████ ██████████ ██ █████ ███ █████████ ██ ████ ██ █████ ████ ██████████ ████████ ███ ███████ ██ ███████ ███████████ ███████ ███████████ ██ ██████████ ████ ███ █████████ ████████ ██ ████ █████ ███ ██████ ██ ███████ ██ ██████ ██ ███████████ ██ ██████ ██ ██████ █████ ██ ███████████ ███ ████████ ███████████ ██ █████████ ██████████ █████ ██ ███████ █████████ ███ ███ ████████ ████████ ██ ████████ ███████ █████ ███ ██ ████ ████████ ██ ██████ ██ ███████████ ████ ██████ ██ ███ ███ ███████ ███ ██ ███████████ ███ ███████

Sibley's potential response · Acknowledges that "species concept" is slippery
However, for practical reasons, we have to limit the number of species we recognize. (If we said you were a different species from your mom, because you have slightly different DNA, that would lead to billions of different "species" in the world. That's impractical.)
P4

████████ ███ ██████ ██ ████ █████████ ███ ███████ ████████ ███████████ ███ █████████ ███ ████████ ███████ ███ ████████ ██████████ ███ ██████ ██ ███████ █████ ████████ ████████ ███ ██████ ███████ ██████████ ██ █████

Implications of debate · How we answer the species question has political and economic consequences
Example: Increasing number of species would likely increase number of endangered species.
Passage Style
Critique or debate
Show answer
16.

According to the passage, which ███ ██ ███ █████████ ██ ████ ██ ███ ████████████ ███████ ████████

a

It has effectively ███████████ █████ ███████ ██ ███████ ███████████████

Unsupported. The only methods for species classification described in the passage are the method of the lumpers and the method of the splitters. The lumpers use the biological species concept, while the splitters use the phylogenetic species concept. The passage doesn’t indicate that the splitters have discredited the lumpers, so (A) isn’t supported.

9%
b

Its popularity has ████████ █████ ███ █████ ██ ███████ ██ ███████

Unsupported. We don’t know how the popularity of the splitter perspective (or the phylogenetic species concept) has changed specifically since Sibley’s death.

2%
c

It is more ██████ ██ ███████████ ████ ██ ████ █████ ██████████ █████████

Unsupported. The passage doesn’t compare classification methods that are useful for ornithology with methods that are useful for most other biological sciences, so this comparative statement doesn’t have support.

9%
d

It has more ██████████ ███ ████ ██ ███ ██ ███ █████

This is stated in P1. Here, we see that the phylogenetic species concept is increasingly popular.

66%
e

It was pioneered ██ ███████ ██ ███████

Unsupported. We know that Sibley can be called a splitter, but the passage doesn’t indicate that he came up with the phylogenetic species concept.

14%

Answer five questions and we'll estimate your score.

It takes about five minutes.

Take the free diagnostic
More free LSAT prep: Sample LSAT questions Full-length diagnostic & practice test All free LSAT resources

Confirm action

Are you sure?