In the late 1960s, Robert Paine conducted landmark studies on diversity in the rocky intertidal zone, comparing the species diversity in control plots with diversity in experimental plots from which he removed the top predator, sea stars. After 5 years, 15 species of intertidal invertebrates lived in the control plots, while the experimental plots were dominated by only two species, one mussel and one barnacle. The process most likely responsible for the loss of species diversity in the experimental plots was:.predation. a. parasitism. b. competitive exclusion. c. resource partitioning. d. mutualism.

Predation

Explanation:

Predation can be defined as the biological interaction where one organisms eats the other organism.

It belongs to the family of micropredation, parasitism. The predators sit and wait for the prey in order to kill them and eat them.

In the question when the top predators were removed then there was a control in the number of species left is due to the action of the predators on the prey.

halogen, any of the six nonmetallic elements that constitute group 17 (group viia) of the periodic table. the halogen elements are fluorine (f), chlorine (cl), bromine (br), iodine (i), astatine (at), and tennessine (ts).

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explanation: