Which finding, if true, would most directly support the researchers' …

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Cardiff, Wales, has installed engineered structures-mainly breakwalls along 87% of its shoreline to protect infrastructure from storm surges and other hazards, a practice known as shoreline hardening. Investigating the impact of such structures on waterbird communities at various sites in the Chesapeake Bay on the US East Coast, Diann Prosser et al. hypothesized that shoreline hardening more negatively affects waterbirds than does land development for uses such as housing or agriculture. To evaluate the responses of local waterbird species, including the osprey, to landscape alterations, the researchers utilized the Index of Waterbird Community Integrity (IWCI), on which a low score corresponds to low community integrity.

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

Waterbird communities at Back River, a site with a relatively high percentage of developed land and a relatively low percentage of hardened shoreline, had higher average IWCI scores than did waterbird communities at Margothy, a site with a relatively low percentage of developed land but a higher percentage of hardened shoreline.

Waterbird communities at Langford, a site with a relatively high percentage of developed land and a relatively low percentage of hardened shoreline, had lower average IWCI scores than did waterbird communities at Mill, a site with a lower percentage of developed land but a higher percentage of hardened shoreline.

Waterbird communities at Stony and Curtis, two sites with relatively high percentages of developed land and hardened shoreline, had similar IWCI scores, whereas waterbird communities at Ware and Honga, two sites with relatively low percentages of developed land and hardened shoreline, had widely differing IWCI scores.

Waterbird communities at Old Road, a site with a relatively high percentage of developed land and hardened shoreline, had lower average IWCI scores than did waterbird communities at Onancock, a site with a relatively low percentage of developed land and hardened shoreline.