Use the information and your knowledge of science to answer the question.

in the gulf of mexico, seagrass meadows are nurseries for many young animals. polychaetes are a type of invertebrate that lives on seagrass and provides food to many of the animals that live in the seagrass meadows.

to study the effect of predators on different species of polychaetes, scientists divided four large fish tanks into two halves. seagrasses containing different species of polychaetes were placed into both halves of all four fish tanks. a predator was placed into only one of the two halves in each of the four fish tanks. after a few days, the scientists counted the total number of polychaetes in each half of the tank.

next, the scientists counted the number of polychaete species in each half of the tank. the results are shown in the table.

based on the information in the graph and the table, how has competition among predators affected species diversity in seagrass meadows in the gulf of mexico?

question 1 options:

a. over time, pink shrimp have adapted to eat a wider variety of prey species compared to other predator species.
b. over time, blue crab have adapted to eat more of their diet in polychaetes compared to other predator species.
c. over time, the number of pink shrimp has decreased and the number of pinfish has decreased.
d. over time, the number of grass shrimp has decreased and the number of blue crab has increased.

Environmental science studies the interactions between the physical, chemical, and biological components of the environment, including their effects on all types of organisms. earth science (also known as geoscience), is an inclusive term for all sciences related to earth (geology, meteorology, oceanogr maphy, etc).  although environmental and earth science cover essentially the same material, environmental science places greater emphasis on the biological realm, while earth science places greater emphasis on the physical realm.    environmental and earth science study the interactions of four major systems or “spheres” (figure 8.6).  the  geosphere  consists of the core, mantle and crust of the earth.the  atmosphere  contains all of the earth’s air and is divided into troposphere, stratosphere, mesosphere, thermosphere and ionosphere.the  hydrosphere  contains all of the solid, liquid and gaseous water on earth, extending from the depths of the sea to the upper reaches of the troposphere where water is found.  ninety-seven percent of the hydrosphere is found in salty oceans, and the remainder is found as vapor or droplets in the atmosphere and as liquid in ground water, lakes, rivers, glaciers and snowfields.  the  biosphere  is the collection of all earth’s life forms, distributed in major life zones known as biomes:   tundra, boreal forest, temperate deciduous forest, temperate grassland, desert, savannah, tropical rainforest, chaparral, freshwater, and marine.although the four systems have their unique identities, there is substantial interaction between them.  environmental scientists study the effects of events in one sphere on the other spheres. for example, a volcanic eruption in the geosphere may cause profound direct and indirect effects on the hydrosphere, atmosphere and biosphere as follows: example 1 (volcano)    on may 18, 1980, mount saint helens, in the state of washington, erupted.  this event altered the surrounding environment, and provided scientists with an opportunity to study the effects of volcanic eruptions on the geosphere, hydrosphere, atmosphere and biosphere.  such studies are vital because volcanic eruptions will continue to occur, and will have increasing impact on humans as people continue to settle lands closer to dormant volcanoes. the following are but a few of the myriad of interactions resulting from a volcanic