Zoologist: In the Lake Champlain area, as the North American snowshoe hare population grows, so do the populations of its predators. As predator numbers increase, the hares seek food in more heavily forested areas, which contain less food, and so the hare population declines. Predator populations thus decline, the hare population starts to increase, and the cycle begins again. Yet these facts alone cannot explain why populations of snowshoe hares everywhere behave simultaneously in this cyclical way. Since the hare population cycle is well correlated with the regular cycle of sunspot activity, that activity is probably a causal factor as well. Each of the following, if true, supports the zoologist's reasoning EXCEPT:
A: Reproduction in predator populations increases when sunspot activity indirectly affects hormonal processes associated with reproduction.
B: The variation from cycle to cycle in the magnitude of the highs and lows in snowshoe hare populations is highly correlated with variations from cycle to cycle in the intensity of highs and lows in sunspot activity.
C: Brighter light during sunspot activity subtly but significantly improves the ability of predators to detect and capture hares.
D: Local weather patterns that can affect species' population changes can occur both in the presence of sunspot activity and in its absence.
Choose A, B, C or D as your solution.
D