According to the passage, lowlands in the Amazon basin currently differ from uplands in which one of the following re...

jingjingxiao11111@gmail.com on January 25, 2022

Hi I am not an instructor but I will try to help. I believe the line reference for the correct answer D comes from the following line references below:

“Observing that species found on high ground are different from those on low ground, and knowing that in the Amazon lowlands are drier than uplands, “

The above line reference states that “Amazon lowlands are drier than Amazon uplands,” and the correct answer D states that “Amazon uplands are wetter than Amazon lowlands.” Thus, they are a perfect match.

I hope I explained it correctly. Please correct me if I am wrong. Thank you.

Abigail on January 26, 2022

Hello @jingjingxiao11111@gmail.com and @iklop,

You are absolutely right. Lines 37-38 state: "knowing that in the Amazon lowlands are drier than uplands." Thus, we can infer that the uplands are wetter than the lowlands, which provides direct support for answer choice D.

While it is true that answer choice B is more specific, specificity is not necessarily a good thing on the LSAT. In fact, it is often harder to prove or find direct textual support for very specific answers, as is the case for answer choice B. I'm guessing that you were tempted by answer choice B because it states that the lowlands during the ice ages were near-desert while the uplands were full of moisture (lines 39-41). It may be "common sense" to associate a drier climate with being less vulnerable to glaciation, but there is no textual support for that and so we cannot assume it.

I hope this answers your questions. Feel free to follow-up if that is still not clear!

Abigail

jingjingxiao11111@gmail.com on February 9, 2022

Thank you! Your answer was really helpful!

Ravi on February 13, 2022

Happy it helped!

Ravi on February 13, 2022

Happy it helped!