The main function of this process is to

Because the earth is not round ,but it may seem round when viewed from ,our planet but true some points earth is not round was an oblate spheroid -a square that it squashed as globe however is not even a perfect oblate spheroid.in fact isaac newton's first proposed that earth was not perfectly round but it was an oblate spheroid instead.that mean a square that is squashed as its poles and swollen at the

Although i don't know what is the simulated system, starfish are predators that eat mostly  microalgae,  snails, sponges, bivalves, mussels and other small marine animals. removing starfish from any system would definitely increase this animals that they prey.