Reading Passage Question
Determining whether a given population of animals constitutes a distinct species can be difficult because no single accepted definition of the term exists. One approach, called the biological species concept, bases the definition on reproductive compatibility. According to this view, a species is a group of animals that can mate with one another to produce fertile offspring but cannot mate successfully with members of a different group. Yet this idea can be too restrictive. First, mating between groups labeled as different species (hybridization), as often occurs in the canine family, is quite common in nature. Second, sometimes the differences between two populations might not prevent them from interbreeding, even though they are dissimilar in traits unrelated to reproduction; some biologists question whether such disparate groups should be considered a single species. A third problem with the biological species concept is that investigators cannot always determine whether two groups that live in different places are capable of interbreeding.
When the biological species concept is difficult to apply, some investigators use phenotype, an organism’s observable characteristics, instead. Two groups that have evolved separately are likely to display measurable differences in many of their traits, such as skull size or width of teeth. If the distribution of measurements from one group does not overlap with those of another, the two groups might reasonably be considered distinct species.
“Determining Whether a Given Population of Animals Constitutes a Distinct Species GMAT Reading Comprehension” - is a GMAT reading comprehension passage with answers. Candidates need a strong knowledge of English GMAT reading comprehension to excel this section.
This GMAT Reading Comprehension consists of 4 comprehension questions and related answers. The GMAT Reading Comprehension questions check the candidates’ abilities in understanding, analyzing, and applying information. Candidates can actively prepare with the help of GMAT Reading Comprehension Practice Questions.
Solution and Explanation
- The passage is primarily concerned with
(A) describing the development of the biological species concept
(B) responding to a critique of reproductive compatibility as a criterion for defining a species
(C) considering two different approaches to identifying biological species
(D) pointing out the advantage of one method of distinguishing related species
(E) identifying an obstacle to the classification of biological species
Answer: C
Explanation: the author presents those drawbacks to illustrate situations in which the biological species concept is difficult to apply. The author then presents an alternative (phenotype) that can be used in such situations. The author does not say that the biological species concept should be abandoned in favor of phenotype. Instead, the author simply notes that some investigators use the latter when the biological species concept is difficult to apply.
- The author of the passage mentions “groups that live in different places” (in line 21) most probably in order to
(A) point out a theoretical inconsistency in the biological species concept
(B) offer evidence in support of the biological species concept
(C) identify an obstacle to the application of the biological species concept
(D) note an instance in which phenotype classification is customarily used
(E) describes an alternative to the biological species concept
Answer: A
Explanation: Choice (A) represents a PRACTICAL challenge. According to the biological species concept, a species is a group of animals that can mate with one another but not with members of a different group. The text in lines 20-21 describes the third problem with this approach.
- With which of the following statements regarding the classification of individual species would the author most likely agree?
(A) Phenotype comparison may help to classify species when the application of the biological species concept proves inconclusive.
(B) Because no standard definition exists for what constitutes a species, the classification of animal populations is inevitably an arbitrary process.
(C) The criteria used by biologists to classify species have not been based on adequate research.
(D) The existence of hybrids in wild animal species is the chief factor casting doubt on the usefulness of research into reproductive compatibility as a way of classifying species.
(E) Phenotype overlap should be used as the basic criterion for standardizing species classification.
Answer: A
Explanation: If the classification of animal populations were inevitably an arbitrary process. Then no matter what scientists may try, we wouldn't expect them to ever classify animal populations in a consistent way. Yet, in the second paragraph, the author suggests that phenotype comparison might reasonably be used to group animals into distinct species.
- Which of the following best describes the function of lines 10-13 [First, mating between groups labeled as different species (hybridization), as often occurs in the canine family, is quite common in nature.]?
(A) It elaborates the definition of the biological species concept given in a previous sentence.
(B) It develops a point about the biological species concept made in the previous sentence.
(C) It states the author’s central point about the biological species concept.
(D) It identifies a central assumption underlying the biological species concept.
(E) It demonstrates why the biological species concept is invalid.
Answer: B
Explanation: the previous sentence says - "Yet this idea can be too restrictive". We can see clearly that this sentence is an introduction about the limitations of the biological species concept. The sentence in lines 10-13 elaborates on the first negative point of its limitation.
Suggested GMAT Reading Comprehension Samples
- The Black Death, a Severe Epidemic that Ravaged Fourteenth Century Europe GMAT Reading Comprehension
- The General Density Dependence Model can be Applied to Explain the Founding of Specialist Firms GMAT Reading Comprehension
- Many People Believe that Wages are Lower in Developing Countries than in Developed Countries GMAT Reading Comprehension
- More Selective than Most Chemical Pesticides in that they Ordinarily Destroy only Unwanted Species GMAT Reading Comprehension
- Citing the Fact that the Real Gross Domestic Product (GDP) per capita was Higher in 1997 GMAT Reading Comprehension
- The System of Patent-Granting, Which Confers Temporary Monopolies for the Exploitation of New Technologies GMAT Reading Comprehension
- Ethnohistoric Documents from Sixteenth-Century Mexico Suggesting that Weaving and Cooking were the Most Common Productive Activities for Aztec Women GMAT Reading Comprehension
- Solar Ponds are Bodies of Water in Which Circulation is Incomplete and There is a Very High Salt Concentration that Increases with Depth GMAT Reading Comprehension
- Traditional Social Science Models of Class Groups in the United States are Based on Economic Status GMAT Reading Comprehension
- Historians have Identified Two Dominant Currents in the Russian Women's Movement of the Late Tsarist Period. GMAT Reading Comprehension
- Some Historians Contend that Conditions in the United States During the Second World War GMAT Reading Comprehension
- Comparable Worth, as a Standard Applied to Eliminate Inequities in Pay GMAT Reading Comprehension
- The United States Government has a Long-Standing Policy of Using Federal Funds to Keep Small Business Viable. GMAT Reading Comprehension
- A Recent Study has Provided Clues to Predator-Prey Dynamics in the Late Pleistocene Era. GMAT Reading Comprehension
- Even More Than Mountainside Slides of Mud or Snow, Naturally Occurring Forest Fires Promote the Survival of Aspen Trees. GMAT Reading Comprehension
- Conventional Wisdom has it that Large Deficits in the United States Budget Cause Interest Rates to Rise. GMAT Reading Comprehension
- A One-Child Policy was Implemented in China in 1979 GMAT Reading Comprehension
- The Pioneers of the Teaching of Science Imagined that its Introduction into Education would Remove the Conventionality, Artificiality, and Backward-Lookingness GMAT Reading Comprehension
- A Fundamental Principle of Pharmacology is that all Drugs have Multiple Actions. Actions that are Desirable in the Treatment of Disease are Considered therapeutic GMAT Reading Comprehension
- In the 1980's, Astronomer Bohdan Paczynski Proposed a Way of Determining Whether the Enormous Dark Halo Constituting the Outermost Part of the Milky Way Galaxy GMAT Reading Comprehension
Comments