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.
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.)
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
16.
According to the passage, which ███ ██ ███ █████████ ██ ████ ██ ███ ████████████ ███████ ████████
Question Type
Stated
This is a Stated question about the phylogenetic species concept. This is discussed at the end of P1. We see that the phylogenetic species concept is supported by the splitters.
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%
Difficulty
66% of people who answer get this correct
This is a moderately difficult question.
It is somewhat easier than other questions in this passage.
CURVE
Score of students with a 50% chance of getting this right
25%143
153
75%163
Analysis
Stated
Stated
Stems asking us to identify an idea that appears explicitly in the passage (as opposed to ideas that are merely implied).
Critique or debate passages contain multiple points of view on a particular subject. Sometimes the author takes sides and participates in the critique or debate, other times the author merely reports the debate.
