Question

 

8. You are tasked with trying to restore the biodiversity in a national park. How might your understanding of keystone species affect your management plans?

9. Earth can support more people who are vegetarians than people who regularly consume meat. Why do you think this is?

10. If only 10% of the energy available in a plant is turned into body tissue of a cow, what happens to the other 90%?

11. Which do you think would be a more stable ecosystem: one where each species has only one connection to another species, or one where each species has five connections to other species? Explain your answer.

12. Which community would support the greatest diversity of species—a community composed of species with broad ecological niches or a community composed of species with narrow, specialized ecological niches? Explain your answer.

 

Answer 1

8. A keystone species exerts a more relative effect on the ecosystem than its number. They are often the secondary/tertiary consumers which keep a check on the remaining species. So, conservation plans must be centered around the keystone species.

9. In an ecosystem, the efficiency of energy transfer is only 10%. i.e. 90% of the energy is dissipated as heat when energy is transmitted from one trophic level to the next. So, consuming vegetarian food can exert less pressure on the ecosystem balance than consuming non-vegetarian food.

10. In an ecosystem, the efficiency of energy transfer is only 10%. i.e. 90% of the energy is dissipated as heat when energy is transmitted from one trophic level to the next.

11. Stable ecosystem: each species has five connections to other species. This is because the population of a single species is dependent/regulated on/by five other species. So, it is a more regulated-homeostatic system.

12. A community composed of species with broad ecological niches would support the greatest diversity as each species can depend/regulate many other species. A niche is the functional role of a species in the ecosystem.