Read the scenario.
Hemlocks are a common type of tree in the northern forests of the United States. In studying one forest, a forester noticed that mature hemlocks were abundant but there were very few young hemlocks. She wondered why there were so few young hemlocks.
By reading the records that other foresters in that area had kept, she learned that the population of deer living in the forest had doubled in the last five years. By reading studies on forests that other scientists had performed, she also learned that deer in similar forests like to eat young hemlocks and the young trees of other species.
Which statement is a hypothesis that would best address the question "Are deer eating the young hemlocks and preventing them from growing?
Deer are eating young hemlocks.
If deer are eating young hemlocks, then keeping deer away from the young trees will allow the trees to grow.
Deer will eat young hemlocks, but not old hemlocks.
If the hemlocks are tasty to the deer, the deer will eat them.
The hypothesis you want to test is
If deer are eating young hemlocks, then keeping deer away from the young trees will allow the trees to grow.
The correct statement that is a hypothesis addressing the question "Are deer eating the young hemlocks and preventing them from growing?" is:
If deer are eating young hemlocks, then keeping deer away from the young trees will allow the trees to grow.
This statement presents a cause-and-effect relationship between deer eating young hemlocks and the prevention of their growth. It proposes that by keeping deer away from the young trees, their growth will be allowed to occur. This hypothesis can be tested by conducting an experiment where a certain area is protected from deer and comparing the growth of young hemlocks in that protected area with the growth in an area where deer have access.