Question

research into whether floating mats of macroalgae affect the prevalence of microphytobenthos (mpb)—benthic, or bottom - dwelling, microalgae—has produced varying results: amber hardison and colleagues determined that macroalgae do not impact mpb, whereas kristina sundbäck and colleagues observed that benthic chlorophyll concentrations (a common measure of mpb biomass) decreased in the presence of macroalgae. hypothesizing that macroalgal mats have a negative effect on mpb biomass, alice f. besterman and michael l. pace surveyed mudflats in curlew bay and other coastal sites in virginia. because besterman and pace did not find a significant correlation between benthic chlorophyll concentrations and the abundance of macroalgal mats, it can be concluded that which choice most logically completes the text? a) rather than inhibiting chlorophyll production in mpb, as they had hypothesized, macroalgal mats may positively affect chlorophyll production. b) their hypothesis about the relationship between macroalgae and mpb was not supported and their finding was instead consistent with that of hardison and colleagues. c) differences between their study design and that of sundbäck and colleagues likely explain the discrepancy in the two studies’ findings about the responses of mpb to macroalgal mats. d) although this finding was consistent with that of sundbäck and colleagues, trends in mpb biomass are likely not a result of stresses caused by macroalgae.

Explanation:

The text presents different research results on the impact of macroalgae mats on MPB. Besterman and Pace hypothesized a negative effect but found no significant correlation. This is consistent with Hardison's result that macroalgae do not impact MPB.

Answer:

B. their hypothesis about the relationship between macroalgae and MPB was not supported and their finding was instead consistent with that of Hardison and colleagues.