Which of the following is a major contributor of empty calories in american diets

I believe the answer is Sugar-sweetened beverages

Empty calorie is term used for food with high amount of calorie but have little to none nutrient. This food will give energy but not giving the nutrient that the body need to be healthy. Typical food would be the one with high sugar or fat content. Consumption of empty calorie food will provide more calorie, make the person easier to gain weight.

answer: decrease

a limiting factor is the one which decrease the abundance, distribution and causes extinction of the population of species in a ecosystem. here, predators including hawks, owls and snakes are the limiting factor for the population of mexican free tailed bat.   although bats are nocturnal animals as they forge for food at night these predators also may remain active during night which can decrease the population of the mexican free-tailed bats. also, these bats eat only one type of insects that are moths. the food can also be a limiting factor as all 400 members are dependent upon same type of food needs that are moths. the decrease in the moth population can cause decrease in population size of the mexican free-tailed bats.

therefore, the scenarios will most likely to decrease the population size of the mexican free-tailed bats.