LSAT 159 | Section 1 | Logical Reasoning: Q8

LR Question 8 Explanation

QUESTION TEXT: Scientists found the remains of several pieces of mites …

QUESTION TYPE: Complete the Argument

CONCLUSION: The area around the cave was probably cooler 2,000 years ago.

REASONING:

• Mite remains from 2,000 years ago are found near the cave.
• They no longer live in this cave.
• Now, they live in a cooler area a few miles away.

The unstated support would be that mites require cooler temperatures.

ANALYSIS: There’s a missing link between the reasoning and conclusion:

Mites moved from around this cave to a cooler area nearby -> ??? -> therefore, the cave area must have been cooler when they lived there.

Why did they move? Probably because they can only survive in cool conditions. If they require a cool climate, and they used to live near the cave, then the area around the cave must have had that climate 2,000 years ago.

___________

1. CORRECT. This is fairly good support. It doesn’t say that the mites can only live in cool climates. However, if the mites need very specific conditions then that narrows down the type of environment mites can live in to an environment similar to the one they’re in now. And, the environment they’re in now is cooler.
    
   So this makes the argument stronger by reducing the possibility that the mites can survive in many conditions and moved for some other reason.
2. Whether it’s wet or dry doesn’t help connect mites to temperature changes. In fact this slightly weakens the argument by providing an alternative reason the mites could have moved: perhaps they need wet environments.
3. The conclusion is about the climate 2,000 years ago, so what happened before that doesn’t matter.
4. Altitude alone doesn’t strengthen the conclusion. We need something about temperature.
5. Some of the mite species died off. So what? That still doesn’t help us explain why those surviving species that moved did so. We have no idea why some mites died off.