Meaning analysis:
Scientific interest in (something) :
(something) = providing suitable habitats
habitats for who: for bottom-dwelling animals (such as river clams arises)
- not because they are important sources of human food
- but from their role as an integral link in the Aquatic food chain.
so overall the sentence s conveying that scientist are interested in providing habitats to bottom dwelling animals. And they (scientists) wants to do that for 2 reasons, 1. because they (animals) are important food resource and 2. because they are also playing important role in aquatic food chain
Error Analysis:
Observe the stem after underline portion, "but from their role as an integral link in the Aquatic food chain". this tells , parallelism issue and not as x but from y
(A) not because they are important sources of human food - out
(B) although they are not an important sources of human food - absurd
(C) not in that they are important as human sources of food - abusrd
(D) not from their importance as a source of human food - ok
(E) not from being important sources of food for human beings - use of "being" and idiom, not from x but from y