LSAT 127 – Section 3 – Question 07

LSAT 127 - Section 3 - Question 07

December 2003

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Question
QuickView		 Type Tags Answer
Choices		 Curve Question
Difficulty		 Psg/Game/S
Difficulty		 Explanation
PT127 S3 Q07
+LR
Resolve reconcile or explain +RRE
Causal Reasoning +CausR
A
0%
150
B
1%
155
C
1%
156
D
0%
151
E
98%
164
120
127
136
 +Easiest 146.462 +SubsectionMedium

Conservation officers justified their decision to remove a pack of ten coyotes from a small island by claiming that the coyotes, which preyed on wild cats and plover, were decimating the plover population and would soon wipe it out. After the coyotes were removed, however, the plover population plummeted dramatically, and within two years plover could no longer be found on the island.

"Surprising" Phenomenon
Coyotes were removed from an island on the grounds they were decimating the plover population, but the plover population fell and eventually disappeared after the coyotes were removed.

Objective
The right answer will be a hypothesis that explains why removing the coyotes actually hurt the plover population. Since the coyotes preyed on wild cats, as well, the answer may point to a proliferation of other plover predators on the island.

A
Plover are ground-nesting birds, which makes them easy prey for coyotes.
This doesn’t explain why removing the coyotes harmed the plover population. If anything, this suggests removing the coyotes would’ve helped the plover.
B
Wild cat and plover populations tend to fluctuate together.
We don’t know what happened to the wild cat population once the coyotes were removed. Since the coyotes preyed on wild cats, it seems likely their population would’ve risen. The plover population would’ve thus risen as well, which it didn’t.
C
Coyotes are not susceptible to any of the diseases that commonly infect plover or wild cats.
The coyotes are gone. We need to know why their absence negatively affected the plover.
D
The wild cat population on the island was once significantly larger than it is currently.
We don’t know what a shrinking wild cat population would do for the plover. This doesn’t give us enough information.
E
The coyotes preyed mainly on wild cats, and wild cats prey on plover.
Once the coyotes were gone, wild cats ran rampant on the island and ate all the plover. This explains why removing the coyotes harmed the plover population.

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LSAT PrepTest 127 Explanations

Section 1 - Logical Reasoning

Section 2 - Logical Reasoning

Section 3 - Logical Reasoning

Section 4 - Reading Comprehension

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