Insects can see ultraviolet light

Answer choices

1. A

   No Impact2% picked this

   When webs of many different species of spider were illuminated with a uniform source of white light containing an ultraviolet component, many of these

   We're trying to test whether UV reflected patterns cause insects to be attracted to these G webs. This answer has an experiment in which lots of different webs (are any of them G webs?) are hit with a UV light. Let's stop there. Could that experiment help us judge whether UV reflected patterns cause insects to be attracted to G webs? Sure, maybe. If the experiment showed that insects were attracted to lots of different plants that reflected UV patterns, then that would add plausibility to the idea that the insects are attracted to G webs because of their UV patterns. However, this answer simply tells us that some of the plants in the experiment didn't reflect UV. That alone tells us nothing. Were the insects still attracted to those plants that weren't reflecting UV? Or did they stop being interested, since there wasn't any UV reflecting off them? Only if we know the answer to that question can we judge any impact this would have on the conclusion's causal claim.

   2%
2. B

   No Impact2% picked this

   When the silks of spiders that spin silk only for lining burrows and covering eggs were illuminated with white light containing an ultraviolet component,

   We're trying to test whether insects are attracted to these G webs because of the UV patterns reflected off the webs. This answer doesn't talk about the insects at all, so it doesn't give us any way to judge whether insects are attracted to G webs because of their UV reflections.

   2%
3. C

   No Impact1% picked this

   When webs of the comparatively recently evolved common garden spider were illuminated with white light containing an ultraviolet component, only certain portions

   We're trying to test whether insects are attracted to these G webs because of the UV patterns reflected off the webs. This answer doesn't talk about the insects at all, so it doesn't give us any way to judge whether insects are attracted to G webs because of their UV reflections. Like (B), this answer centers around whether or not webs are reflecting UV light. We don't inherently care whether webs do or don't reflect UV light. We know that G webs do reflect UV light, and our entire inquiry is about why insects are attracted to G webs. So discussion of whether other types of webs do or don't reflect UV light is only relevant to us if you also tell us whether insects' attraction to those webs seems to change based on whether the web is / isn't reflecting UV light.

   1%
4. D

   Weak Support18% picked this

   When Drosophila fruit flies were placed before a Glomosus web and a synthetic web of similar pattern that also reflected ultraviolet light and both

   This involves a data point in which "Many" fruit flies (insects) seemed to be attracted to a G web that was reflecting UV patterns. So it adds some plausibility to the idea that insects are attracted to G webs because of their reflected UV patterns. But "many" is a very weak quantity that can mean as little as a handful. If 15 out of 100 flies flew to the UV-reflecting G web, that would qualify as "many" but not be very impressive as evidence. Additionally, this experiment involves comparing a real G web to a synthetic web with a similar pattern and also reflecting UV. This doesn't help us test whether or not insects are attracted to the UV, because both webs in this experiment reflect UV light of similar patterns.

   18%
5. E

   Correct76% picked this

   When Drosophila fruit flies were placed before two Glomosus webs, one illuminated with white light containing an ultraviolet component and one illuminated with white

   Why this is right

   We're trying to test whether insects are attracted to these G webs because of the UV patterns reflected off the webs. This experiment sounds perfect: We've got some insects (fruit flies) and we've got a G web that has UV reflections and one that doesn't have UV reflections. This can help us assess whether insects are specifically attracted to the UV reflections. It turns out, they are! The majority of the insects chose the G web that had the UV reflections over the one that didn't.

   Skill tested: Strengthen · how this choice captures the argument's function is the move to repeat next time.

   76%