Question

A desalination plant is set up in a bay to provide fresh, drinkable water by removing salt from ocean water and returning the removed salt to the bay. How might the resulting increase in salinity in the bay affect the fish populations?
A. The number of open ocean species that could live there would increase.
B. The diversity of phytoplankton in the area would increase.
C. Species that could tolerate low levels of dissolved oxygen would increase.
D. Populations of all the species already living there would increase.

Answer 1

Hi there,

The salinity of open ocean is fairly constant; so, a change in salinity would definitely not attract open ocean species. B doesn't seem to be an option as it's about diversity of phytoplankton and increase in salinity wouldn't really increase the diversity of phytoplankton. C is plausible as salinity decreases the level of dissolved oxygen in water. Finally D is unlikely to happen as increase in salinity implies drastic change in the environmental conditions and only a small number of organisms would be able to adapt to such changes. So, I'd say C

Refer to the following for more info: http://oceanservice.noaa.gov/education/kits/estuaries/media/supp_estuar10c_salinity.html

Answer 2

ok thank you help a lot :D

Answer 3

You're welcome :)