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most of the year, the hemit thrush

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most of the year, the hemit thrush

by peter456 » Wed Mar 02, 2016 6:22 am
most of the year, the hemit thrush, a North American songbird, eats a diet consisting mainly of insects, but in autumn, as the thrushes migrate to their central and South American wintering grounds, they feed almost exclusively on wild berries. Wild berries, however, are not as rich as insetcs, yet thrushes need to consume plenty of calories in order to complete their migration. One possible explanation is that berries contain another nutrient that thrushes need for migration and that insects lack.

Which of the following, if true, most seriously calls into question the explanation given for the thrushe"s diet during migration?

(A)hermit thrushes, if understood, are unable to complete their autumn migration before the onset of winter
(B)insect species contain certain nutrients that are not found in wild berries
(C)for songbirds, catching insects requires the expenditure of significantly more calories than eating wild berries
(D)along the hermit thrushes" migration routes, insects are abundantthoughout the migration season
(E)there are some species of wild berries that hermit thrushes generally do not eat, even though these berry species are exceptionally rich in calories.

Pls help with your explanation to disect the stem of the argument as well as the answers.
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by MartyMurray » Wed Mar 02, 2016 7:05 am
Most of the year, the hermit thrush, a North American songbird, eats a diet consisting mainly of insects, but in autumn, as the thrushes migrate to their Central and South American wintering grounds, they feed almost exclusively on wild berries. Wild berries, however, are not as rich in calories as insects, yet thrushes need to consume plenty of calories in order to complete their migration. One possible explanation is that berries contain other nutrients that thrushes need for migration and that insects lack.

Which of the following, if true, most seriously calls into question the explanation given for the thrush's diet during migration'?

(A) Hermit thrushes, if undernourished, are unable to complete their autumn migration before the onset of winter.

(B) Insect species contain certain nutrients that are not found in wild berries.

(C) For songbirds, catching insects requires the expenditure of significantly more calories than eating wild berries does.

(D) Along the hermit thrushes' migration routes, insects are abundant throughout the migration season.

(E) There are some species of wild berries that hermit thrushes generally do not eat, even though these berry species are exceptionally rich in calories.
One way to dissect the prompt is to start by identifying the conclusion.

In this case, the conclusion is that hermit thrushes eat berries rather than insects during migration because the berries, unlike insects, contain some nutrient necessary for migration.

Now look at what other information is given.

Hermit thrushes are songbirds.

Hermit thrushes usually eat insects.

Hermit thrushes switch to eating berries during migration.

Berries are not as rich in calories as insects are.

Thrushes need calories during migration.

So the point is that even though the insects are richer in calories, which the thrushes need for migration, the thrushes eat berries during migration, and the explanation given is a hypothesis about why the thrushes choose to eat the less rich berries.

I am not even going to try to prethink this one because there are so many different ways that the explanation could be called into question.

(A) This does not support or weaken the conclusion as it does not provide any new information on the relative nutritional value of insects and berries.

(B) This is a trap answer. The hypothesis is that berries contain some nutrient necessary for migration and that's why the thrushes switch to berries. The thrushes are clearly passing up the insects for berries. So the fact that insects contain certain nutrients that berries do not is irrelevant.

(C) This is interesting. The prompt says that hermit thrushes are songbirds and that hermit thrushes need calories for migration, and this choices says that for songbirds catching insects uses up calories. So possibly the thrushes pass up the insects in order reduce the number of calories the expended in the process of eating and thus save the calories for the migration. This calls the hypothesis into question, because it points to a clear alternative reason why the hermit thrushes would during migration choose to eat berries rather than insects.

(D) This does not call the hypothesis into question. In fact it demonstrates that the hermit thrushes are choosing to eat berries rather than being forced to eat berries by a lack of insects.

(E) The hypothesis is about nutrients rather than calories. So that the thrushes ignore certain berries that are rich in calories does not undermine the hypothesis.

The hypothesis in the prompt is weakly based on the idea that hermit thrushes must have some reason for eating berries rather than insects during migration and so that reason may be that the berries contain some nutrients that insects don't. C presents evidence that points to a different reason why the thrushes would choose berries, and thus calls into question the validity of the hypothesis.

The correct answer is C.
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by peter456 » Thu Mar 03, 2016 9:12 am
Your explanation makes sense

Thanks u very much
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by Crystal W » Thu Mar 31, 2016 8:50 pm
Marty Murray wrote:
Most of the year, the hermit thrush, a North American songbird, eats a diet consisting mainly of insects, but in autumn, as the thrushes migrate to their Central and South American wintering grounds, they feed almost exclusively on wild berries. Wild berries, however, are not as rich in calories as insects, yet thrushes need to consume plenty of calories in order to complete their migration. One possible explanation is that berries contain other nutrients that thrushes need for migration and that insects lack.

Which of the following, if true, most seriously calls into question the explanation given for the thrush's diet during migration'?

(A) Hermit thrushes, if undernourished, are unable to complete their autumn migration before the onset of winter.

(B) Insect species contain certain nutrients that are not found in wild berries.

(C) For songbirds, catching insects requires the expenditure of significantly more calories than eating wild berries does.

(D) Along the hermit thrushes' migration routes, insects are abundant throughout the migration season.

(E) There are some species of wild berries that hermit thrushes generally do not eat, even though these berry species are exceptionally rich in calories.
One way to dissect the prompt is to start by identifying the conclusion.

In this case, the conclusion is that hermit thrushes eat berries rather than insects during migration because the berries, unlike insects, contain some nutrient necessary for migration.

Now look at what other information is given.

Hermit thrushes are songbirds.

Hermit thrushes usually eat insects.

Hermit thrushes switch to eating berries during migration.

Berries are not as rich in calories as insects are.

Thrushes need calories during migration.

So the point is that even though the insects are richer in calories, which the thrushes need for migration, the thrushes eat berries during migration, and the explanation given is a hypothesis about why the thrushes choose to eat the less rich berries.

I am not even going to try to prethink this one because there are so many different ways that the explanation could be called into question.

(A) This does not support or weaken the conclusion as it does not provide any new information on the relative nutritional value of insects and berries.

(B) This is a trap answer. The hypothesis is that berries contain some nutrient necessary for migration and that's why the thrushes switch to berries. The thrushes are clearly passing up the insects for berries. So the fact that insects contain certain nutrients that berries do not is irrelevant.

(C) This is interesting. The prompt says that hermit thrushes are songbirds and that hermit thrushes need calories for migration, and this choices says that for songbirds catching insects uses up calories. So possibly the thrushes pass up the insects in order reduce the number of calories the expended in the process of eating and thus save the calories for the migration. This calls the hypothesis into question, because it points to a clear alternative reason why the hermit thrushes would during migration choose to eat berries rather than insects.

(D) This does not call the hypothesis into question. In fact it demonstrates that the hermit thrushes are choosing to eat berries rather than being forced to eat berries by a lack of insects.

(E) The hypothesis is about nutrients rather than calories. So that the thrushes ignore certain berries that are rich in calories does not undermine the hypothesis.

The hypothesis in the prompt is weakly based on the idea that hermit thrushes must have some reason for eating berries rather than insects during migration and so that reason may be that the berries contain some nutrients that insects don't. C presents evidence that points to a different reason why the thrushes would choose berries, and thus calls into question the validity of the hypothesis.

The correct answer is C.
Thank you for yoru explanation and can you explain more about choice E?
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by MartyMurray » Fri Apr 01, 2016 9:19 pm
Crystal W wrote:Thank you for your explanation and can you explain more about choice E?
The hypothesis presented in the prompt is that the thrushes eat berries because the berries have nutrients that insects do not have.

The question asks for the answer choice that most undermines that hypothesis.

The hypothesis is that the thrushes choose the berries over insects, which are higher in calories than berries, because the berries contain nutrients that the insects do not. Choice E says that the thrushes even choose certain berries over other berries, even though the other berries contain more calories than the ones that the thrushes eat.

So once again the thrushes are choosing a lower in calories food for some reason. That reason could be the nutrients contained in the berries that they do choose.

Of course there could be some other reason.

Whatever the reason for the thrushes' choosing the lower calorie berries, choice E describes a continuation of the same pattern, choosing certain berries over higher calorie foods. So E does not add information that changes the picture in such a way as to undermine the hypothesis.
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