The Sea Star Pisaster Ochraceus Is a Keystone Species

question 1

Multiple Choice

The sea star Pisaster ochraceus is a keystone species.Ten years after P.ochraceus is removed from selected intertidal communities along the Washington coast,how might those communities compare to control communities?

• A) The communities would be statistically indistinguishable from one another.
• B) Sea star prey, such as mussels, might increase in abundance and crowd out other community members.
• C) Other predators will simply replace P. ochraceus and take advantage of prey that P. ochraceus consumed.
• D) Prey species, such as mussels, would decline, but most species within the community would be unaffected.

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Common-value Auction

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Too Optimistic

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