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The Pacific sea otter was hunted to near extinction in the early 1900s. The loss of this predator resulted in several changes to the kelp forest ecosystem. Populations of sea urchins, which are one of the sea otters' favorite prey, grew to historically high numbers. Sea urchins graze on kelp, and the extremely large populations of sea urchins significantly reduced kelp biomass. Researchers have hypothesized that overgrazing of kelp by urchins may have hastened the extinction of the Stellar's sea cow, which also depended on kelp as a food source. Identify the ecosystem relationships that were disrupted in the kelp forests by the loss of sea otters.

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annyksl

Answer:

  • Interspecific competition between sea urchins and Stellar's sea cows  
  • Predation fo sea urchins by sea otters

Explanation:

As urchins and Stellar's sea cows feed on seaweed, since these algae are low in quantity, these two organisms end up competing for food, creating an inter-specific competition, which occurs when two organisms compete for the same resource within a same ecological niche. However, as the hedgehog has advantages in this niche, this competition was interrupted.

The otters' predatorism in relation to sea urchins was also interrupted, as the otters reached a very low population level, failing to control the hedgehog population and generating an environmental imbalance.

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