Apuk’we, the common cattail is a versatile native edible plant for the Ojibwe people of Minnesota. They are important to the ecosystem for many reasons. They help stabilize marshy borders of lakes and ponds, help protect shorelines from wave erosion, providing spawning areas for northern pike, provide cover and nesting sites for waterfowl and marsh birds such as the red-winged blackbird, are a food source for muskrats and beavers, and humans, too. However, where native cattails once stood, now there is a vast lawn of nonnative narrow-leaved cattails or their hybrid offspring. These new cattails are taking over wetlands once populated by the native cattails, decreasing the biodiversity in these areas.
What kind of ecological relationship exists between the native and nonnative species of cattails in the Minnesota wetlands?
A) commensalism
B) competition
C) mutualism
D) predation