Question

sat #1 reading & writing - part 2 text 1 to describe the evolutionary history of an organism, scientists sometimes construct a model called a “phylogenetic tree.” a single organism is placed at the base, representing a “root.” the branching “tree of life” then shows when different organisms evolved from the root. in theory, pathways can be traced all the way from the origin of life to any individual species by navigating along the evolutionary branches of the tree. text 2 recently, scientists have discovered that unrelated species can affect each other’s evolution in a process called “horizontal gene transfer,” or hgt. james lake, of the ucla/nasa astrobiology institute, believes that the classic “tree of life” model does not fit with this new research. lake has instead proposed a ring - like model that better takes the complicated process of hgt into account. based on the texts, how would james lake (text 2) most likely respond to the theory presented in the last sentence of text 1? a by emphasizing that scientists still have a lot of research to do before they can confidently create an accurate model of evolutionary history b by agreeing that there is a direct, if complicated, connection between the origin of life and any individual species on the branches of the phylogenetic tree c by pointing out that recent research has shown that the evolutionary history of a species is likely more complex than the phylogenetic tree can properly convey d by disagreeing with the idea that any individual species comes from an evolutionary origin, and instead proposing that all species have evolved horizontally from one another

Explanation:

Text 1 describes the traditional phylogenetic - tree model for evolutionary history. Text 2 mentions James Lake's view that the classic "tree of life" model doesn't fit with the new discovery of horizontal gene transfer (HGT), and he proposes a ring - like model. The last sentence of Text 1 implies a straightforward connection from the origin of life to individual species via the phylogenetic tree. Lake would likely point out that recent research (HGT) shows evolutionary history is more complex than what the phylogenetic tree can convey.

Answer:

C. By pointing out that recent research has shown that the evolutionary history of a species is likely more complex than the phylogenetic tree can properly convey