PT104.S2.P3.Q16 > Analytics

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Many birds that form flocks compete through aggressive interaction for priority of access to resources such as food and shelter. ███ ██████ ██ ████████ ████████████ ███████ █████ ███████ ██ ████ ████ ████ █████ █ ██████████ ██████ ██████ ███████ ██ ███ ████████ ████████ ████ ████████ ██ ██████ ██ █████████ ██████████ ████ ██████ ███████ ███

Phenomenon · Status hierarchy in birds

Top bird has best fighting ability which grants them first dibs on food and shelter. Then next bird get their turn, then next, and so on. Each bird has a position on this status hierarchy.

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Negative Consequence · Maintaining social status is costly: energy, time, and risk of injury

Hypothesis · Status signaling hypothesis (SSH)

Instead of actually fighting to establish social status, birds can instead signal their fighting ability and thereby not have to risk actually getting hurt. A bird's plumage is one such signal of fighting ability.

Rohwer · Sparrow plumage supports SSH

Birds with darker throats win conflicts against birds with lighter plumage, controlling for age and sex.

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Critique of Rohwer · Data doesn't support his claims

Darker plumage birds don't always win conflicts. Also, age is actually a confounder. Age is a signal of status and plumage just happens to darken with age. Hence, plumage is not a status signal for these sparrows.

Experimental Evidence for SSH · Greater titmouse

Width of black breast-plumage stripe signals status. Experiment controlled for sex, age, wing length, and body weight.

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Experimental Evidence for SSH · Greater titmouse

Stuffed titmouse dummies with narrower v. broader breast stripes caused other birds to behave aggressively v. submissively, as predicted by SSH.

Passage Style

Critique or debate

Phenomenon-hypothesis (RC)

16.

The author refers to the ████ ████ █████ ██████ ████████ ███ ███████ ████ ████████ ███████ ██ ███ █████ ███████████ ██ █████ ██ ██ █████ ███ ██ ███ ██████████

Question Type

Purpose in context (of word, phrase, or idea)

Structure

Why does the author mention that adult Harris sparrows are usually dark-throated? To provide evidence that the dark plumage doesn’t support Rohwer’s assertion that dark plumage predicts relative dominance status among birds of the same age and sex. The author points out that the plumage is actually just a signal of age. So, although birds with darker plumage have higher status, that’s because of age, not because of a bird’s individual status among others of the same age.

support the conclusion ████ ███████ █████████ █████ ██████ ████████ ████████ ████ ███ ██████ ██████████ ██████

This best captures the author’s purpose. The author is trying to rebut Rohwer’s belief that dark plumage signals a bird’s individual status; part of the evidence is that the dark plumage is more a signal of age.

75%

argue that plumage █████████ █████ ██████ ████████ █████ ██ ███████ ███ ██████ █████████ ██████████

The author actually criticizes Rohwer’s use of Harris sparrows as support for the status signaling hypothesis.

indicate that in █████ ██ ███████ █████████ ████████ █████ ██████ █████████ ███ ██████ █████████ ██████████ ██████ ████████ ██ ████████

The author never suggests that the status signaling hypothesis should be modified. Although she doesn’t think Rohwer’s evidence supports the hypothesis, she still supports the hypothesis with different evidence (P4 and P5).

14%

demonstrate that Harris ████████ ███ ███ ████ ███████████ ████████ ███ ███ █████ ██ ██████ █████████ █████ █████

The author actually criticizes Rohwer’s use of Harris sparrows as support for the status signaling hypothesis.

suggest that the █████████ ██ ███████████ ███████████ ██ ██████ ██ ██████████ █████ █████ ████ ████ ██████

The author never suggests that the age-related plumage differences in Harris sparrows are also observed in other birds that form flocks.

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PrepTest 104 - Section 2 - Passage 3 - Question 16

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PrepTest 104 - Section 2 - Passage 3 - Question 16

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