Question 179·Medium·Rhetorical Synthesis
While researching a topic, a student has taken the following notes:
• The giant honeybee (Apis dorsata) creates defensive "shimmering" waves that ripple across the surface of its nest.
• In a 2022 experiment, biologist Emily Cartar projected moving disks of different colors toward active nests.
• The bees produced much stronger shimmering responses when the disks were dark rather than light.
• Predatory hornets that often attack the nests have dark bodies.
• Cartar concluded that shimmering helps deter hornets and that the bees are especially sensitive to dark moving shapes.
The student wants to include a sentence in a presentation that explains how the experiment demonstrated the adaptive value of shimmering. Which choice most effectively uses relevant information from the notes to achieve this goal?
For rhetorical synthesis questions using notes, first restate the task in your own words (e.g., “show how the experiment proved this behavior helps against predators”). Then quickly mark the essential notes that directly support that task (methods, key results, and conclusions). As you scan the answer choices, eliminate any that (1) ignore the experimental result, (2) leave out the logical link to the conclusion the question asks about, or (3) simply copy a note without actually answering the specific prompt. Choose the option that uses only the necessary details to clearly connect the experiment’s findings to the idea in the question.
Hints
Focus on the key phrase in the question
Underline the phrase "explains how the experiment demonstrated the adaptive value of shimmering." Which choices talk not just about shimmering, but also about what the experiment showed and why that matters for survival?
Use the notes to find the crucial experimental result
From the notes, what specific difference did Cartar observe when using disks of different colors, and how does that relate to the color of the hornets?
Eliminate incomplete or off-target options
Cross out any option that (1) never mentions the experiment’s result, or (2) talks about shimmering and hornets but doesn’t show what the experiment added to prove that connection.
Step-by-step Explanation
Understand what the question is asking for
The task is NOT just to restate a note. The student wants a sentence that explains how the experiment demonstrated the adaptive value of shimmering.
- Adaptive value means how a behavior helps an organism survive or avoid harm (here, deterring predators like hornets).
- The sentence must therefore (1) describe the experiment and (2) connect the results to how shimmering helps protect the bees from hornets.
Identify the key details in the notes
From the notes, pull out only what you need to show adaptive value:
- The behavior: giant honeybees create shimmering waves as a defensive behavior.
- The experiment: in 2022, Cartar projected moving disks of different colors at active nests.
- The key result: bees shimmered much more at dark disks than at light ones.
- The predator fact: hornets that attack the nests have dark bodies.
- The conclusion: shimmering helps deter hornets, and bees are especially sensitive to dark moving shapes.
To answer the question, a good choice must at least connect the experimental result about dark disks to the dark-bodied hornets and protection from them.
Test each option against the task and key details
Now compare each answer choice to what the question requires:
- Choice A: Mentions Cartar and colored disks, but it only states the purpose (to study shimmering) and gives no result or conclusion about predators or adaptive value.
- Choice B: States that bees shimmer to discourage predators, but it does not mention the experiment at all, so it does not show how the experiment demonstrated anything.
- Choice C: Describes an experiment with colored disks and shimmering, but leaves out the critical contrast between dark and light disks and never links the behavior to hornets.
So A, B, and C each miss a key requirement: either the experimental result, the connection to predators, or both.
Confirm the remaining option matches all requirements
The remaining choice must:
- Describe Cartar’s 2022 experiment (projecting moving colored disks at nests).
- State the key result (bees shimmered far more at dark disks than at light ones).
- Explain how this shows adaptive value (the behavior is tuned to repelling dark-bodied hornets).
Choice D does all of this, so the correct answer is:
In 2022, biologist Emily Cartar projected moving disks of various colors at nests of giant honeybees and found the insects shimmered far more at dark disks, showing the behavior is tuned to repelling dark-bodied hornets.