After the asteroid impact that ended the dinosaurs, what did ocean recovery lean on before normal food webs returned?
Show answer & explanation
Answer: Bacterial prey base
New whale grazers — New whale grazers are impossible for this moment: whales evolved tens of millions of years after the impact. This wrong choice is useful because it exposes a scale error. The first recovery mechanism was microscopic and nutritional, not a quick replacement by large modern animals.
Deep coral forests — Deep coral forests are real ecosystems, but they are not the reset button described for ocean recovery after the impact. Corals with photosymbionts can be vulnerable to light loss, and deep corals do not replace the ocean's microscopic production base. The early recovery story is much smaller and stranger.
Bacterial prey base ✓ — Bacterial prey base is the right idea. After the impact, darkness temporarily reset the marine food chain toward bacteria-dominated prey, then mixotrophic plankton helped rebuild production. The memorable twist is that the ocean's comeback began less like a green field and more like microbes eating microbes.
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