A certain population of beavers builds dams across a stream to catch fish. Some years the stream carries more water than other years. The data below was collected by scientists studying the stream over a sixteen year period.

Years Average Stream Depth
(meters) Average Number of
Beaver Dams Average Number of
Beavers
2000-2003 1.20 6 17
2004-2007 0.92 4 12
2008-2011 1.45 7 21
2012-2015 0.78 2 9

If the average depth of the stream for the next 4 years is 1.60 meters, which of the following is most likely to occur?

it provides an alternative energy pathway for the reaction to proceed.

a catalyst is a substance that speeds up the rate of a chemical reaction but is not consumed during the course of the reaction.

catalysts increase the rate of reaction without being used up. they do this by lowering the activation energy needed. with a catalyst, more collisions result in a reaction, so the rate of reaction increases. different reactions need different catalysts.

a catalyst works by providing an alternative reaction pathway to the reaction product. the rate of the reaction is increased as this alternative route has a lower activation energy than the reaction route not mediated by the catalyst.