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Verbal·Craft and Structure·Cross-Text Connections
hard
Text 1
Researchers Douglas J. Levey and F. Gary Stiles observed that many migratory neotropical landbirds eat fruit or nectar and live in forest edges or other open habitats with large shifts in temperature. The researchers hypothesized that these traits each independently contributed to the evolution of long-distance migration in many neotropical landbird species, supporting their hypothesis with data relating to Turdinae and other families of birds.

Text 2
Levey and Stiles’s hypothesis does not account for an additional possible evolutionary precursor to long-distance migration. W. Alice Boyle and Courtney J. Conway analyzed data on Machetornis rixosa and 378 other species of neotropical landbirds. They found that solitary foragers are more likely to migrate than birds that forage in groups, concluding that group foraging is consistently and negatively associated with long-distance migration.
Based on the texts, how would the author of Text 2 most likely respond to the underlined portion in Text 1?
A
By suggesting that the evolution of long-distance migration contributed in turn to changes in many birds’ foraging behavior
B
By countering that neither diet nor habitat contributed as decisively to the evolution of long-distance migration in many bird lineages as foraging behavior likely did
C
By noting that an aspect of foraging behavior likewise may be linked to the evolution of long-distance migration in many bird lineages
D
By recommending that more studies be conducted to determine whether there is evidence of an association between birds’ foraging behavior and long-distance migration