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The data shows that recently the size of the raccoon population decreased. How will the decrease in the raccoon population affect the other populations?

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Answer: Increase in the population of lower organisms.

Explanation: Raccoons are mesopredators found in the middle levels of food webs and have critical impacts on the dynamics of many other species. Thus, they greatly contribute to the functioning of the ecosystem.

They are naturally equipped to checkmate the population size of other organism that are below them (i.e., their preys) in the food web. They are; predators, pathogen carriers (such as rabies), and competitors, as they compete with some specialist in the food web.

Hence, the decrease in the population of raccoons will lead to the increase in the population size of lower organisms they prey on in the food web or chain.

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