Star Fish Research Paper

Words: 432
Pages: 2

False
An absence of a keystone species (not a very large population) can have immense effects to the rest of the members in a specific food web, thus disproportionately affecting their own abundance. In the video, it is shown when starfish, a keystone species, disappeared, there was a near exponential increase in mussels and an overpopulation of them in the ecosystem. This is because no predator was able to keep the mussels in check.
False
In the video, it shows that starfish was the top predator in the pyramid, thus not having any predators of itself.
D
A

This hypothesis showed that amount of herbivores in the ecosystem is limited as well by the number of predators from the top down.
I would add snakes at the end.
Grass -- Grasshoppers
…show more content…
If the snakes would consume the mice, then the mice population would decrease. This would cause the grasshopper population to increase. The grasshoppers would then consume the grass, thus decreasing the amount of grass.
A
A
B
Due to the absence of killer whales on the left, sea otters tended to have a larger effect on sea urchins. This explains why sea urchins had a smaller effect on kelp, because the sea otters would utilize the majority of them. The sea otters decrease on the right because of the presence of killer whales. This leads to the otters having a smaller effect on the sea urchins. This results in a larger effect from sea urchins to kelp.
The mean tree leaf area per plot control plots are roughly 1,950 cm^2 and 1,050 cm^2 for plots with added beetles.
On average, the mean tree leaf area per plot increased over the course of 18 months without the beetle. However, the leaf area per plot decreased with the beetles added. For approximately the first 5-7 months, the leaf areas per plot were approximately the same, however, the plot with the beetle added took a sharp shift downwards while the constant plot steadily increased. Control: Piper plants -- Caterpillars --