Question

The following illustration shows a food web for a kelp forest off of the coast of California. What do you predict would happen to the kelp population if the sea otter population declined?
The kelp population would decrease: sea otters eat urchins, and urchins eat kelp.

The kelp population would increase: sea otters eat urchins, but not exclusively.

The kelp population would remain unchanged; sea otters do not eat the kelp.

The kelp population would remain unchanged: sea otters eat urchins, but not exclusively.

Answer 1

Answer:

The kelp population would decrease: sea otters eat urchins, and urchins eat kelp.

Explanation:

The diagrammatic illustration in this question is showing a food web made up of a variety of species feeding on one another. As shown in the food web, sea otters are one of the top predators that can eat a wide variety of organisms.

Sea urchins feed directly on kelp, however, the population of sea urchins can be controlled by sea otters which feed on sea urchins. Hence, if population of sea otters declined, more sea urchins will be available to feed on the kelp population, hence, will DECREASE.