What Is Life? A Guide to Biology
4th Edition
ISBN: 9781319065454
Author: Jay Phelan
Publisher: W.H. Freeman & Co
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Question
Chapter 23, Problem 1SA
Summary Introduction
To analyze:
Why herbivores must spend a large portion of each day, eating.
Introduction:
The food of herbivores is easily available, but difficult to digest.
Expert Solution & Answer
Explanation of Solution
Plants are easily available sources of food; however, they are difficult to digest. Plants are filled with fiber, and provide fewer kilocalories per unit of weight than the meat that carnivores or omnivores eat does. Therefore, herbivores need to eat larger amounts, and more often than carnivores do, to get sufficient energy and nutrients.
Conclusion
Since plants have more fiber, they are harder to digest and provide fewer kilocalories than the meat-based diet of carnivores does. This is why herbivores need to eat throughout the day.
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Students have asked these similar questions
If only a fraction of the energy that the herbivore gets from plant food becomes part of the herbivore’s body, what happens to the rest of it?
Which of the following statements about the challenges herbivores face when acquiring nutrients
is TRUE?
O The ratio of carbon to nitrogen is much higher in herbivores than it is in the plants they eat.
O They eat dead leaves, which has half the nitrogren that live leaves have.
O They sometimes must eat insects to meet their nitrogen demands.
O They need to get rid of excess carbon gained from eating plants.
Which of the following would you expect to be TRUE of an herbivore:
-More canine teeth than molars
-An extended cecum
-Fewer endosymbionts than found in omnivores
-A shorter, simpler digestive tract
A- longer esophagus
Chapter 23 Solutions
What Is Life? A Guide to Biology
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