SAT OwlQuestion bank / Command of Evidence
Ecologist Mariam Haddad hypothesizes that urban populations of the white-crowned sparrow sing at a higher minimum pitch than rural populations do because low-pitched notes are drowned out by the low-frequency rumble of traffic. To test this idea, Haddad plans to record songs from sparrows in several cities and in nearby countryside sites.
Which finding, if true, would most directly support Haddad's hypothesis?
Urban sparrows sing at higher minimum pitches than rural sparrows do, even in city parks where traffic noise is almost absent.
Urban sparrows sing more songs per hour than rural sparrows do.
Within a single city, sparrows living near busy highways sing at higher minimum pitches than sparrows living in quiet neighborhoods do.
Urban and rural sparrows learn their songs from adult birds at the same age.
Show answer and explanation
Answer: C
Haddad's hypothesis links higher minimum pitch to traffic noise specifically. Choice C shows that, within the same city, pitch rises where traffic is heavy and stays lower where it is quiet. That isolates traffic noise as the factor. Choices B and D do not involve pitch and noise at all.
Choice A shows urban birds sing higher, but because the difference appears even where traffic is nearly absent, it points away from traffic as the cause and weakens the hypothesis.
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