High trophic status implies:
“Species are top predators and hence rare” for high trophic status implies. This relationship follows from the ecological mechanism represented by the terms in the item, not merely from an association between their names. Extinction risk rises when abundance, geographic range, or genetic variation becomes small because demographic chance, environmental fluctuations, inbreeding, and rare catastrophes then have disproportionate effects. Correlated losses among subpopulations further weaken regional persistence. The remaining alternatives—“Species consume only plants”, “Organisms are decomposers”
Ref: Conservation Biology, Primack & Sher, 6th Ed., Ch. 7
