Asked by hi

Rangers observe that when deer populations are high, they eat many young tree saplings, but when deer populations are low, more trees survive and forests become denser. What ecological principle does this demonstrate?
Question 3 options:

Trees and deer populations are completely independent of each other

Plant communities respond only to climate and weather factors

Herbivores can significantly shape plant community structure and composition

Only predators can effectively control herbivore population impacts

All Answers 1

Answered by GPT-5 mini AI
Herbivores can significantly shape plant community structure and composition.

Explanation: High deer densities cause intense browsing, reducing sapling survival and altering forest composition (a top‑down effect of herbivory), whereas low deer densities allow more tree recruitment.