GMAT Reading Comprehension
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Source: OG11th
Level: 3
Coral reefs are one of the most fragile, biologically complex, and diverse marine ecosystems on Earth. This ecosystem is one of the fascinating paradoxes of the biosphere：how do clear, and thus nutrient-poor, waters support such prolific and productive communities? Part of the answer lies within the tissues of the corals themselves. Symbiotic cells of algae known as zooxanthellae carry out photosynthesis using the metabolic wastes of the corals, thereby producing food for themselves, for their coral hosts, and even for other members of the reef community. This symbiotic process allows organisms in the reef community to use sparse nutrient resources efficiently.
Unfortunately for coral reefs, however, a variety of human activities are causing worldwide degradation of shallow marine habitats by adding nutrients to the water. Agriculture, slash-and-burn land clearing, sewage disposal, and manufacturing that creates waste by-prod all increase nutrient loads in these waters. Typical symptoms of reef decline are destabilized herbivore populations and an increasing abundance of algae and filter-feeding animals. Declines in reef communities are consistent with observations that nutrient input is increasing in direct proportion to growing human populations, thereby threatening reef communities sensitive to subtle changes in nutrient input to their waters.
It can be inferred from the passage that the author describes coral reef communities as paradoxical most likely for which of the following reasons?
- A They are thriving even though human activities have depleted the nutrients in their environment.
- B They are able to survive in spite of an overabundance of algae inhabiting their waters.
- C They are able to survive in an environment with limited food resources.
- D Their metabolic wastes contribute to the degradation of the waters that they inhabit.
- E They are declining even when the water surrounding them remains clear.