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Make a hypothesis (educated guess) about what will happen.
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Show Legend
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Trophic Level:
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Producers make their own food. WhyReef's most common producers are plants, which make their food using sunlight.
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Herbivores only eat plants (producers).
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Lower Omnivores eat plants (producers) and smaller animals.
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Upper Omnivores eat plants (producers) and bigger animals.
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Lower Carnivores only eat other animals. WhyReef's lower carnivores usually eat smaller animals.
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Upper Carnivores only eat other animals. WhyReef's upper carnivores are likely to eat bigger animals.
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Corals are the most bizarre creatures on WhyReef! They are so weird, they actually get
their own trophic level. Here's why: They are animals (not plants!), and they are carnivores.
But they have tiny plants in their cells (which they don't eat -- they are NOT herbivores)
that make food for them (which they do eat). Corals are crazy, right?
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Hide Legend
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People that live near the beach cut down all the trees in the area, so now there is nothing to stop runoff and erosion. Lots of soil and sand are piling up on the reef. The coral can't move or grow fast enough to keep up and are getting buried. What do you think will happen to the reef?
I hypothesize that
population(s) will decrease.
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