Question

QUESTION 9

Compare the following two ecosystems, both of which have EQUAL rates of primary production.

• The dominant primary producers in a grassland ecosystem are vascular plants (grasses). The dominant herbivores in the grassland are vertebrate endotherms (deer and rabbits).
• The dominant primary producers in open ocean ecosystems are microscopic algae, and the dominant herbivores are invertebrate zooplankton (ectotherms).

Based on this information alone, which of the following statements is most likely to be true?

Group of answer choices

a.)The grassland will have a stronger trophic cascade than the ocean.

b.)The grassland will be more nutrient limited than the ocean.

c.)A greater fraction of primary production will be converted to secondary production by herbivores in the grassland.

d.)The ocean ecosystems will have greater producer biomass per unit area than the grassland.

e.)A greater number of trophic levels will be supported in the ocean ecosystem than in the terrestrial one.

Answer 1

Based on the given statements regarding the food chain in tropical and ocean ecosystem, the option (e) A greater number of tropic levels will be supported in the ocean ecosystem than in terrestrial one finds the suitable statement that satisfies true for the given condition

Explanation

In the case of the terrestrial ecosystem, the food chain goes as- Primary producers(Grass) --> Primary consumers(Deer and rabbit). Here the primary consumers are comparable large animals. These animals can be further prey to more powerful and true omnivores like tigers and lions. And tigers and lions genrerally are not considered and consumers of any gradein the food chain and are ultimate consumers. With exceptional cases wecan add scavengers to the list but in this case lets not consider scavangers in both the ecosystem. So the most probable food chain goes as- Primary producers(Grass) --> Primary consumers(Deer and rabbit) --> Secondary/tertiary consumer(Omnivores like lion and tiger)

But in contrast to the ocean ecosystem, the primary producers are tiny microscopic algae, which are consumed my also tiny zooplanktons. These zooplanktons are the source of food for small fishes and crustaceans, they are then consumed by larger fish and finally those masses of fish are consumer by whales and sharks. So in ocean ecosystem they represnet their food chain as Primary producers(Microscopic algae) --> Primary consumers(Zooplanktons) --> Secondary consumer(Small fishes and crustaceans) --> tertiary consumer(large fishes and squids) --> quaternary consumer (whale and sharks).