Page 49 of the 15th edition of the text (page 48 of the 14th edition) has Figure
ID: 299926 • Letter: P
Question
Page 49 of the 15th edition of the text (page 48 of the 14th edition) has Figure 3-10 (in the 14th edition, it’s Figure 3-11), a greatly simplified food web in the Antarctic. (Other editions have this same illustration in the chapter on ecosystems and how they work. It goes by the same title—simplified Antarctic food web—but it may have a different Figure number and page number. Just look for it in the chapter on Ecosystem and How They Work.) What would happen if all of the Adelie penguins were “harvested” to make golf gloves, rendering the species absent from the food web?
Humans Blue whale Sperm whale Elephant seal Crabeater seal Killer whale Leopard sea Adelie penguin Emperor penguin Squid Petre Fish Carnivorous to Herbivorous zooplankton Krill PhytoplanktonExplanation / Answer
Any ecosystem present in this world have certain members and there is a cycle of life and death of these members sustains the balance in the ecosystem. Whether it be ecosystem of grasslands of argentina or small number of members ecosystem like of Antarctica. The balance of the ecosystem is maintained only when all the members of the ecosystem are active and the life and death cycle of their are going smoothly. This balance also maintains the balance in food chain and so the overpopulation growth is hindered. This could be explained in a simple way like if a plant is eaten by a herbivore and that herbivore is eaten by a carnivore, all these members are necessary since if the carnivores decreases in number then the population of herbivores will increase since there will be less number of predators. So the increased number of herbivore will try to feed on the same number of plants, which will result in starvation of the herbivore population and systematically death of the ecosystem. There are a lot number of examples, the best will be the experiment done in yellowstone park. Few 10 -15 years back yellowstone national park was a barren land with very less vegetation , in an experiment few wolves were being put into the ecosystem. The wolves started hunting the elkes in the forest and the population of the elk and deer get into control which resulted in less burden on the plants and trees and the forest become greener again with less of the land remain barren. In many places of the earth where the population of Lions and Tiger are decreasing are evidencing the increase in deer and other herbivores population resulting in less vegetation covered lands. Antarctica is a very isolated place from rest of the world with very few population of species present there and with a very small intervention in those type of ecosystem , a huge change or disbalance could be seen in the ecosystem. Adelie penguins are the secondary carnivores in the antarctic food chain. Adelie penguins are the most abundant penguins which lives on most of the parts of the antactica but breeds only on the rocky shores. They are generally immune to the human disturbances and also the climatic change. They generally feeds on the krills and also on the zooplanktons. These penguins are feed by the leopard seal and the killer whales. So if they are hunted by the humans and completely lost from the food chain , the population of krills and the zooplanktons will increase, which could affect the phytoplanktons and put the burden onto the these primary food source. Also the krills and the zooplanktons are very sensitive to the climate change. So the loss of adelie penguins could weaken the ecosystem and make it less reselient during the warmer condition. Also the seals and the killer whales will be starving because it will be hard for them to find food if the most abundant penguins which they feed on are gone.
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