Experiments Performed in the Rocky Intertidal Zone by Robert Paine

Multiple Choice

Experiments performed in the rocky intertidal zone by Robert Paine showed that the experimental removal of a predator had dramatic consequences to the structure of the community.What was the ultimate conclusion of this study?

A) That predators can prey so heavily that they eventually reduce species richness to nearly zero. As a result species richness is reduced.
B) That prey need spatial and temporal fluctuations to coexist, otherwise the community structure will collapse. When fluctuations do not occur, then species richness is significantly reduced.
C) That predators have no impact on the structure of lower trophic levels.
D) That predators can mediate coexistence by reducing the number of individuals of a species in the community that tend to dominate and as a result increase species richness more than if they were not present.