Sugar Maple Trees
Climate scenario
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Inés Ibáñez and colleagues studied a forest site in which some sugar maple trees receive periodic fertilization with nitrogen to mimic the broader trend of increasing anthropogenic nitrogen deposition in soil. Ibáñez and colleagues modeled the radial growth of the trees with and without nitrogen fertilization under three different climate scenarios (the current climate, moderate change, and extreme change). Although they found that climate change would negatively affect growth, they concluded that anthropogenic nitrogen deposition could more than offset that effect provided that change is moderate rather than extreme.
Which choice best describes data from the graph that support Ibáñez and colleagues' conclusion?
(A) Growth with nitrogen under the current climate exceeded growth with nitrogen under moderate change, but the latter exceeded growth without nitrogen under extreme change.
B Growth without nitrogen under the current climate exceeded growth without nitrogen under moderate change, but the latter exceeded growth with nitrogen under extreme change.
(C) Growth with nitrogen under moderate change exceeded growth without nitrogen under moderate change, but the latter exceeded growth without nitrogen under extreme change.
(D) Growth with nitrogen under moderate change exceeded growth without nitrogen under the current climate, but the latter exceeded growth with nitrogen under extreme change.
