In an ecosystem, marsh snails feed on phytoplankton and painted turtles feed on marsh snails. Pollution has resulted in the depletion of
phytoplankton. What effect would this situation likely have on the populations of marsh snails and painted turtles?
OA
The population of marsh snails will decrease, but the population of painted turtles will increase.
B. The population of marsh snails will increase, but the population of painted turtles will decrease.
OC The populations of marsh snails and painted turtles will increase.
D. The populations of marsh snails and painted turtles will decrease.
E. The populations of marsh snails and painted turtles will not be affected.

This is because since there are not enough phytoplankton to feed all the marsh snails. So they will decrease. When there is less marsh snails, the painted turtles will decrease because there will not be enough food. Therefore, both species are dependent on the phytoplankton.

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Oseni Oseni · Answer 2 · 2022-05-30T12:36:41+02:00

The populations of marsh snails and painted turtles will decrease as a result of the depletion of phytoplankton.

Food chains

A linear network of organisms showing the dependence of one on the other when it comes to feeding.

In the illustration, the food chain can be drawn such that:

phytoplanktons ---> marsh snails --->painted turtles

With the depletion of phytoplankton, the population of marsh snails will reduce significantly due to food shortage. When this happens, painted turtles will also suffer a loss due to food shortage as a result of a decrease in the population of marsh snails.

More on food chains can be found here: https://brainly.com/question/2233704

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