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.

How do temperature and salinity affect deepwater currents? they create changes in wind direction, moving denser water in the same direction as the wind and causing the deepwater circulation patterns found in the ocean. as temperatures and salinity levels of water increase, the water rises to the surface where it creates currents as it moves to colder regions. they create density differences that cause dense deepwater currents to flow toward the equator where they displace less dense, warmer water above them. they equalize the forces on undersea currents caused by the coriolis effect as they replace more dense water with less dense water.