Reference no: EM133312975

Questions

1. Along the west coast of the Canada and the USA, sea stars in rocky intertidal habitats recently experienced an outbreak of a disease that resulted in the mortality of large numbers of sea stars. How would the loss of sea stars most likely affect species richness in the rocky intertidal?

a. species richness would increase

b. species richenss would decrease.

c. species richness would remain the same

2. In Pacific kelp forests along the coast of British Columbia, Canada, sunflower sea stars (Pycnopodia helianthoides) are mesopredators that consume medium and small sized sea urchins. Large urchins are consumed by sea otters. In kelp forests where sea otters are present, what would we expect to happen to the kelp population if the sea stars die?

a. kelp density would increase

b. kelp density would decrease.

c. kellp density would remain the same

3. In tropical coral reef ecosystems, the crown-of-thorns sea star (Acanthaster planci) consumes tissue. Acanthaster outbreaks can lead to a regime shift from a coral-dominated to an algal-dominated system. How would this affect biodiversity?

a. biodiversity would increase"

b, "biodiversity would decrease",

c. "biodiversity would stay the same