Q19 - European wood ants incorporate large

[ohthatpatrick]

Question Type:
Evaluate

Stimulus Breakdown:
Conclusion: The use of conifer resin by these ants probably came about as a disease-protection measure.
Evidence: These ants use a lot of this resin in their nests, and this resin is a natural disinfectant that kills harmful bacteria.

Answer Anticipation:
Like we always do with causal arguments, we react with our two-pronged prephrase:
1. Is there some OTHER WAY to explain this curious fact? ("why ELSE might the ants use this resin in their nests?" maybe it's sticky and holds the nest together / maybe it smells nice / maybe it keeps away predators)
2. How plausible is the AUTHOR'S WAY? ("what evidence would suggest that they are/aren't using it as a disease-protection measure?" are they more likely to use the resin in areas where there is more bacteria?)

Correct Answer:
D

Answer Choice Analysis:
(A) Whether it's very long periods of time or just long periods of time, it would make a big difference to this hypothesis.

(B) Whether the resin is roughly the same year round or thicker in one season than other, this has no bearing on the hypothesis we're evaluating unless we knew that one season vs. the other was known for having more strains of bacteria to kill.

(C) Whether this species is one of many or the only one who uses resin, that fact alone isn't going to inform us on WHY this species (or these many species) are using resin.

(D) Here we go! If the resin DOES provide structural benefits to the nest, then we've got a potential alternative explanation. Maybe they don't use resin to protect against disease, they use it to help their nest stick together.

(E) The origin story of the resin's disinfectant nature doesn't help us judge whether that's why the ants use the resin. I use bee honey to make my Grape Nuts palatable. That's unrelated to whether the property of honey evolved among honeybees as an attempt to make their Grape Nuts more palatable.

Takeaway/Pattern: If you're struggling with this one, you need to improve your ability to hear and deal with Causal Explanations. There's a curious fact (you should be able to hear the author thinking "WHAT is the reason for ____" in regards to the evidence: some statistical change, some correlation, some puzzling phenomenon). The author's conclusion offers a possible explanation or that (but he's usually overconfidently assuming he's right).

The #1 thing LSAT rewards us for thinking is,
"Could there be some OTHER WAY to exlain this curious fact?" That's what (D) does.

The #2 thing LSAT rewards us for thinking (#1 on Strengthen questions) is,
"How plausible is the AUTHOR'S WAY of explaining the curious fact?" A correct answer in this vein could have sounded like
(D) whether the wood ants put more resin in areas likely to be breeding more bacteria

#officialexplanation