Answer:
In the "Mystery of the Buffalo boom" scientists first try to find the answer in the two most common things that can affect a population of animals. Food and predators.
First, they studied the buffalos' food supply, grass. They found that there has not been an increase in it so that the number of buffalos multiplied.
Then they studied the predator's population, and they found that there was not a decrease in the number of them that could affect the buffalos increasing numbers.
As the two main things that controlled a population were not affected, they had to find other causes. The next thing that they studied were historical facts about buffalos and diseases. Scientists discovered that a virus that affected cows had impacted these animals too, which was the cause of a considerable decrease in the buffalo's population many years back.
Due to the drastic impact that the rinderpest had on cows, a vaccination plan was implemented. As the cows now were protected against this virus, the virus could not reproduce as it did, ending the spreading of this disease in cows. As a consequence, the buffalos were no longer infected, and their population grew thanks to the vaccination plan.
In conclusion, when the most common things that can affect a population are not the cause, we have to look into the past and find what has changed and how it impacted the animals. It is using logical thinking skills to determine what has changed and what that change made.
Explanation:
In the video "Mystery of the Buffalo boom" the ecologist Tony Sinclair found an abnormal buffalos' number in Tanzania. As the increase in the buffalos' population was something unusual, he knew that something had changed, but he did not know what. Sinclair, with other scientists, used their reasoning skills and thought that the two most logical things that can affect a population are food and predators. When they studied these two variables, they found out that they were not the problem. The next step was to look for past events that impacted buffalos. They found out that a virus, which directly affected cows but also buffalos, had been erased from the Earth thanks to a vaccination plan. As a result, the disease spreading between cows stopped, and as a consequence, it also stopped between buffalos.
We can see that everything is connected and that by using reasoning skills and logic, scientists could determine what happened.
