Which of the following is an assumption on which the argument depends?
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Although social learning (the acquisition of specific behaviors by observing other individuals exhibiting those behaviors) is well documented among fish, few studies have investigated social learning within a developmental context in these taxa. Rather than investigating the development of a particular skill, Chapman, Ward, and Krause investigated the role of group density during development in later foraging success in laboratory-housed guppies. When raised with a small number of conspecifics (members of the same species), guppies were quicker to locate food by following a trained adult guppy than were guppies raised in large groups. This counterintuitive finding is explained by the fact that guppies reared in the high-density condition were less likely to shoal (swim in a group) with others and, therefore, were less likely to learn the benefits of social learning. Instead, fish reared in high-density situations may learn that conspecifics are to be viewed as competitors, rather than as potential sources of adaptive information. This finding suggests that at least for guppies, the early social environment may have an effect on the capacity for social learning, if not on the socially learned behaviors themselves.
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The primary purpose of the passage is to
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Regarding research on fish, it can be inferred from the passage that
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Which of the following can be inferred about the study by Chapman, Ward, and Krause?
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The passage suggests that biologists who say egg production in birds is biologically highly costly would agree that clutch size is determined primarily by
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The passage suggests that Lack would agree with which of the following statements about factors affecting clutch size in birds?
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An alarming number of Mediterranean monk seals, an endangered species, have recently died. Postmortem analysis showed the presence of an as yet unidentified virus, as well as evidence of a known bacterial toxin. Seawater samples from the area where the seals died did contain unusually high concentrations of the toxic bacterium. Therefore, although both viruses and bacterial toxins can kill seals, it is more likely that these deaths were the result of the bacterial toxin.
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Which of the following, if true, provides additional evidence to support the conclusion?
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Which of the following, if true, provides the strongest support for the argument given?
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Which of the following is an assumption on which the argument relies?
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