GRE Reading Comprehension

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Source: NO2

Although scientists observe that an organism's behavior falls into rhythmic patterns, they disagree about how these patterns are affected when the organism is transported to a new environment. One experimenter, Brown, brought oysters from Connecticut waters to Illinois waters. She noted that the oysters initially opened their shells widest when it was high tide in Connecticut, but that after fourteen days their rhythms had adapted to the tide schedule in Illinois. Although she could not posit an unequivocal causal relationship between behavior and environmental change, Brown concluded that a change in tide schedule is one of several possible exogenous influences (those outside the organism) on the oysters' rhythms. Another experimenter, Hamner, however, discovered that hamsters from California maintain their original rhythms even at the South Pole. He concluded that endogenous influences (those inside the organism) seem to affect an organism's rhythmic behavior.

Question List: 1 2 3 4

All of the following could be considered examples of exogenous influences on an organism EXCEPT the influence of the

  • A level of a hormone on a field mouse's readiness for mating
  • B temperature of a region on a bear's hibernation
  • C salt level of a river on a fish's migration
  • D humidity of an area on a cat's shedding of its fur
  • E proximity of an owl on a lizard's searching for food

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