Question

Drea is comparing three organisms. Two have many of the same characteristics. But they have very few characteristics in common with the third organism. What can Drea infer about the relatedness of these three organisms?
Group of answer choices

The first two are unrelated, but each is related to the third.

Relatedness of the three organisms depends on the characteristics the first two share.

The first two are more closely related to each other than they are to the third.

The first two are equally related to the third.

Answer 1

Answer:

The first two are more closely related to each other than they are to the third.

Explanation:

The question tells us that the first two organisms share many common characteristics with each other, this tells us that the first two are related. We can cross out answer choice a. The question also tells us that the first two have very few characteristics in common with the third organism. With this much info given, the answer choices left are:

• Relatedness of the three organisms depends on the characteristics the first two share.
• The first two are more closely related to each other than they are to the third.
• The first two are equally related to the third.

First choice doesn't make any sense, there is no correlation between the common characteristics of the first two with the 3 organisms as a group.

Second choice makes sense and logical.

Third choice is wrong since the question does not give us enough information to know the first two is equally related to the third.

The first two are more closely related to each other than they are to the third. Is the right answer.