The Sea Star Pisaster Ochraceus Is a Keystone Species

The sea star Pisaster ochraceus is a keystone species.Ten years after P.ochraceus is removed from selected intertidal communities along the Washington coast,how might those communities compare to control communities?

A) The communities would be statistically indistinguishable from one another.
B) Sea star prey, such as mussels, might increase in abundance and crowd out other community members.
C) Other predators will simply replace P. ochraceus and take advantage of prey that P. ochraceus consumed.
D) Prey species, such as mussels, would decline, but most species within the community would be unaffected.