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)
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).
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.
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
Single position
14.
The information in the passage ████ ████████ ████████ ████ ███ ████ ████ ████ █████████ █████ ████ ██ ███████ █████████
Question Type
Implied
The author calls the fact that most honeybees don’t produce offspring and exist only to nurture relatives “mysterious.” That suggests the correct answer will have something to do with the “mysterious” aspect of this behavior.
a
was not known ██ ██ ████ ██████ ███ █████
Not supported, because we’re not given anything suggesting when we learned about this honeybee behavior. (1960s is mentioned in connection with the development of inclusive fitness theory.)
b
can be explained ████ ██ ██ ██████ ████ █████ ███████ ███ ██ ████ ████████ ██ ███ █████████ ████ ███████
Not supported, because we have no basis to think that an explanation of the honeybee behavior requires reciprocal behavior among the bees that are nurtured. (Maybe most bees take care of the queen bee, and the queen bee doesn’t nurture anyone else.)
c
is what led ████ ██████████ ██ ██████ ███ ███████████ ████ ██ █████████
Not supported, because there’s no evidence that “most” biologists have rejected the traditional view of evolution. Although inclusive fitness theory involves a modification of the traditional view of evolution, we don’t know that this requires rejecting the traditional view or that most biologists believe the inclusive fitness theory.
Not supported, because even inclusive fitness theory involves the concept of evolution through natural selection.
e
is difficult to ███████ ███████ ██ █████ █████████████ ███ ███████████ ████ ██ █████████ ████ ███████ ███████████ ██████████
Supported, because the author calls the honeybee behavior “mysterious.” Under traditional evolutionary theory, which holds that individuals that produce the most offspring are most likely to continue their genetic representation, it’s hard to explain why most bees don’t produce offspring. Inclusive fitness theory, however, which is different from traditional evolutionary theory, helps to explain honeybee behavior.
Difficulty
75% of people who answer get this correct
This is a difficult question.
It is slightly harder than the average question in this passage.
CURVE
Score of students with a 50% chance of getting this right
25%146
154
75%163
Analysis
Implied
Phenomenon-hypothesis
Science
Single position
Answer Popularity
PopularityAvg. score
a
5%
159
b
3%
155
c
3%
156
d
14%
158
e
75%
166
Question history
You don't have any history with this question.. yet!
You've discovered a premium feature!
Subscribe to unlock everything that 7Sage has to offer.
Hold on there, stranger! You need a free account for that.
We love that you want to get going. Just create a free account below—it only takes a minute—and then you can continue!
Hold on there, stranger! You need a free account for that.
We love that you came here to read all the amazing posts from our 300,000+ members. They all have accounts too! Just create a free account below—it only takes a minute—and then you’re free to discuss anything!
Hold on there, stranger! You need a free account for that.
We love that you want to give us feedback! Just create a free account below—it only takes a minute—and then you’re free to vote on this!
Subscribers can learn all the LSAT secrets.
Happens all the time: now that you've had a taste of the lessons, you just can't stop -- and you don't have to! Click the button.