Refer to the Figure

Refer to the figure.
In their classic test of the equilibrium theory of island biogeography, Simberloff & Wilson removed arthropods from a set of small mangrove islands, then tracked the recovery of the arthropod fauna on these islands through time. Which of the following can be inferred from the figure?

A) Prior to the experimental removal of arthropods, species richness was higher on far islands than on near islands.
B) By the end of the experiment, species richness was higher on far islands than on near islands.
C) Near islands recovered their original species richness before far islands did.
D) Species richness was highest on islands that were both larger and closer than the other islands.