Which of the following species is not an ecosystem engineer?
A) Elephant
B) Coral
C) Gopher tortoise
D) Beaver
E) Pisaster starfish

Question

Quizplus · Accepted Answer

Ecosystem engineers are organisms that directly or indirectly modulate the availability of resources to other species by causing physical state changes in biotic or abiotic materials. In doing so, they modify, maintain, and create habitats. Elephants, corals, gopher tortoises, and beavers all significantly alter their environments in ways that create new habitats or modify existing ones. Elephants can change forested areas to savannahs, corals build reefs that provide habitats for numerous marine species, gopher tortoises dig burrows that are used by many other species, and beavers build dams that create wetlands. The Pisaster starfish, however, while an important predator that influences the species composition of its community, does not significantly modify the environment in a way that creates or alters habitats, thus it is not considered an ecosystem engineer.

Which of the Following Species Is Not an Ecosystem Engineer