Question

Read the following scenario and answer the questions below.
In the early years of the twentieth century there were lush stands of tall grasses in the valley on the east side of the Chiricahua Mountains in Arizona, stretching to Mexico on the south and New Mexico on the east. Dramatic summer rainstorms dumped huge amounts of water, very quickly, on the rocky upper slopes. The water ran down the slopes and into the grasslands, where it quickly soaked into the soft, porous soil. Cattle ranching was in full swing, utilizing the rich grasses, but the ranchers did not appreciate the multitudes of prairie dogs that lived in the grasslands. Cattle would stumble in the holes, break legs, and die of starvation. In addition, many ranchers were convinced that the prairie dogs would destroy the grasses because they directly competed with the cattle for food. The ranchers had already done away with most predators that might possibly affect cattle, and now they turned their attention to the prairie dogs. The ranchers become a part of a new federally sponsored movement to poison the grassland prairie dogs. This movement took root and spread through the 1920s and 1930s. In Canada, the Richardson Ground Squirrel is a close relative of the prairie dogs with a similar lifestyle. Grain farmers and cattle ranchers as well as golf club owners currently tend to adopt a zero-tolerance toward these rodents for the same reasons that the Arizona ranchers were determined to exterminate the prairie dog in the 1920s and 1930s.
Prairie dogs constantly dig through the soil, making new burrows. They eat the grasses, roots and all. This probably contributes to ________.
A) the grassroots being subject to diseases
B) the soil being loose and to little nutrient cycling, causing grasses to fall over
C) the soil hardening during rains and to little nutrient cycling, causing grasses to die
D) the soils eroding and losing nutrients over time, causing the grasses to die
E) the soil being loose and to nutrient cycling, allowing new grass roots to grow and prosper

Answer

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