PT127.S4.P2.Q12 > Analytics

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Mechanisms for recognizing kin are found throughout the plant and animal kingdoms, regardless of an organism's social or mental complexity. ████████████ ██ ███ ███████ █████████████ ██ █████ ██████████ ████ ██████ ████ ███████████ █████████ ██ ███ ████████ ██ ███ ███ ███████████ ██████ ██ ████ ███

Phenomenon · Many plants and animals can recognize "kin" (relatives)

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Inclusive fitness hypothesis · Organisms transmit genetic material through relatives (not just offspring)

Contrast inclusive fitness with traditional view of evolution. Under traditional view, natural selection favors those with the most offspring. Inclusive fitness suggests natural selection also favors organisms who help their relatives (because this helps spread the organism's own genes).

Inclusive fitness applied · Helps to explain why social insects like bees evolved

Inclusive fitness applied · Theory predicts that cannibals will avoid eating their own relatives

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Example of theory applied to cannibals · Spadefood toad tadpoles

Some tadpoles eat their own species. But they nip at other tadpoles before eating, and end up eating only nonsiblings. Suggests they're trying to avoid eating their kin. But, they're more likely to eat kin when they're very hungry.

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Other explanations for kin recognition · Inclusive fitness theory isn't the only explanation

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Example showing other explanation · Tiger salamander larva

Some larva are cannibals. The bacteria are more deadly to close relatives, because the relatives have a similar immune system to the infected larva. So, when tiger salamanders avoid eating their close relatives, it could be because they just don't want to die from the bacteria in their relatives. This is about the organism's individual self-interest, not about trying to increase overall genetic representation.

Passage Style

Phenomenon-hypothesis (RC)

Single position

12.

The passage most strongly supports █████ ███ ██ ███ █████████ ██████████ █████ ███ █████████ ██ █████ ████████ █████████ ████ ████████ █████████ █████ ████

It is not █████████ ██████ ██ ███ ███ ██ ██████ █████

Supported. The procedure involves nipping (meaning putting part of the other tadpole in one’s mouth). This is a non-visual way of determining whether another tadpole is one’s sibling.

53%

It is neither ████████ ███ █████████ ██ █████ ████████ ████ ██ ███ ██████ ██████████████

Not supported, because we don’t know whether non-cannibal tadpoles nip other tadpoles. It’s possible some non-cannibal tadpoles have the ability to nip other tadpoles and to determine whether they are siblings.

21%

It does not ██████ █████ █ ███████ ██ ███████████ ███ ████████ ████ ████████ ████ ███ ███ █████████

Not supported, because we don’t know that the technique isn’t 100% successful at determining whether the other tadpoles are siblings.

It is rendered ███████████ ██ █████████████ ███████ ████████████ ███ ███████ █████ ████ ██████████████ ██ ████████████████

Not supported, because we’re told that the cannibals do in fact nip at other tadpoles to determine whether they are siblings. We have no reason to think that the behavior is unnecessary.

It could not ████ █████████ ██ █ ███████ ██ █████ ███ ███████ ███ ███████████

Not supported, because we have no information about what would cause the nipping behavior not to develop. Maybe in some species that are omnivores, some animals are still cannibals and would nip to determine whether other members of their species are siblings.

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PrepTest 127 - Section 4 - Passage 2 - Question 12

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PrepTest 127 - Section 4 - Passage 2 - Question 12

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