Biology: Life on Earth with Physiology Plus Mastering Biology with Pearson eText -- Access Card Package (11th Edition)
Biology: Life on Earth with Physiology Plus Mastering Biology with Pearson eText -- Access Card Package (11th Edition)
11th Edition
ISBN: 9780133910605
Author: Gerald Audesirk, Teresa Audesirk, Bruce E. Byers
Publisher: PEARSON
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Chapter 29, Problem 1AC
Summary Introduction

To discuss:

How the inefficient transfer of energy between trophic levels might apply to how many humans can be fed, and with what environmental impacts, by people eating fundamentally different diets.

Introduction:

Humans are included under omnivores that mean they act as both herbivores and carnivores. Humans act as the primary, secondary, and occasionally tertiary consumers. Humans have diverse feeding habits and they differ in their principal source of nourishment. Their dependence on plant or animal sources for their nutritional requirements is also different. Humans occupy the higher trophic level in the ecosystem, so less amount of energy is captured by the human from its lower trophic level.

Expert Solution & Answer
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Explanation of Solution

Omnivores represent those living organisms that can eat both plants and animals. Various mammals including humans are omnivores as they have diverse feeding habits and they depend on different plants and animal source for their nutritional requirement.

The variation in the feeding habit of the human leads to an “advantage for the stable ecosystem and availability of resources”.

The transfer of energy between trophic level is not very efficient. Only ten percent of the stored energy is transferred from one trophic level to the next trophic level. The inefficient transfer of energy leads to the differences in the abundance of organisms at various trophic levels. The primary trophic level is more abundant in biomass than that of the higher trophic level. The differences in the abundance of biomass at various trophic level compensate for the inefficient energy transfer within the ecosystem.

Humans have diverse feeding habits which reduce their dependence on any primary source of energy and nutrients. Humans obtain their nutritional requirements from different plants and animal sources. This, in turn, will lead to a balance consumption of various resources within the ecosystem, and thus not creates any serious environmental threat.

Conclusion

Humans are omnivores and they depend on multiple sources for their nutritional requirements. Humans have diverse feeding habits which reduce their dependence on any primary source of energy and nutrients.

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Which of the following statements about nutrient challenges faced by organisms is FALSE? Carnivores are limited by the ratio of carbon to nitrogen found in prey. Detritivores consume food rich in carbon but poor in nitrogen. Plants can exhibit the same type of functional response curve describing the rate of energy intake as carnivores. The diet of a carnivore can vary geographically depending on the availability of prey.
The following is NOT true about trophic levels Animals capable of feeding at many trophic levels will be able to survive if portions of their food supply are decreased or eliminated Secondary consumers belong to the third trophic level Primary consumers belong to the first trophic level Each stage through which energy travels is called a trophic level
Background A trophic level, or feeding level, is made up of all the organisms whose energy source is the same number of consumption steps from the sun in a given ecosystem. The trophic level of plants or producers is 1, while that of herbivores is 2 and that of animals that eat herbivores 3. Higher trophic levels can exist for animals even higher on the food chain. In this exercise, you will compute numerical values for human energy needs based on diets at different trophic levels. In this case study the owner of a farm raises soybeans and chickens. Grasshoppers feed on the farmers soybeans, and are in turn eaten by the chickens. Humans can, though rarely do, eat grasshoppers for sustenance. Humans can also eat soybeans. For the purpose of this exercise, make the following assumptions: A human requires 1 chicken/day  There are 365 days/year 1 chicken eats 25 grasshoppers/day 1 grasshopper requires about 30 g of soybeans/year 1,000 grasshoppers have a mass of 1 kg 1 human requires…

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Biology: Life on Earth with Physiology Plus Mastering Biology with Pearson eText -- Access Card Package (11th Edition)

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Energy flow in ecosystem; Author: MooMooMath and Science;https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5jBV9vJmXZI;License: Standard youtube license