Which finding, if true, would most directly illustrate the researcher…

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Vancouver, Canada, has installed engineered structures along 75% of its shoreline to protect infrastructure from storm surges and other hazards, a practice known as shoreline hardening. To evaluate the responses of waterbirds to two types of hardening structures-riprap and bulkheads-Diann Prosser et al. surveyed waterbird communities consisting of the mallard, the common loon, and 62 other species at different sites in the Chesapeake Bay on the US East Coast. Utilizing the Index of Waterbird Community Integrity (IWCI), on which a high score corresponds to high community integrity, the researchers found that bulkheads are more strongly negatively correlated with waterbird community integrity than is riprap.

Which finding, if true, would most directly illustrate the researchers' finding?

Waterbird communities at Curtis, a site with a high percentage of shoreline consisting of bulkheads and riprap, had lower average IWCI scores than did waterbird communities at Onancock, a site with a low percentage of shoreline consisting of bulkheads and riprap.

The difference in average IWCI scores for waterbird communities at Stony and Old Road, two sites with a higher percentage of shoreline consisting of bulkheads than of riprap, was statistically insignificant.

Waterbird communities at Old Road, a site with a relatively high percentage of shoreline consisting of bulkheads, had lower average IWCI scores than did waterbird communities at Miles, a site with a relatively high percentage of shoreline consisting of riprap.

Waterbird communities at Curtis, a site with equal percentages of shoreline consisting of bulkheads and riprap, had higher average IWCI scores than did waterbird communities at Miles, a site with different percentages of shoreline consisting of bulkheads and riprap.