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10. Assume an ecological efficiency of 10% in the simple food chain described in #6. With a supply of 10,000 units of energy in phytoplankton, the maximum possible energy available at the fourth trophic level would be energy units. a. 10 b. 100 c. 1000 d. 10,000

10. Assume an ecological efficiency of 10% in the simple food chain described in #6. With a supply of 10,000 units of energy in phytoplankton, the maximum possible energy available at the fourth trophic level would be energy units. a. 10 b. 100 c. 1000 d. 10,000

Applications and Investigations in Earth Science (9th Edition)
Applications and Investigations in Earth Science (9th Edition)
9th Edition
ISBN:9780134746241
Author:Edward J. Tarbuck, Frederick K. Lutgens, Dennis G. Tasa
Publisher:Edward J. Tarbuck, Frederick K. Lutgens, Dennis G. Tasa
Chapter1: The Study Of Minerals
Section: Chapter Questions
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Producers provide the base of the marine ecosystem food web. Producers photosynthesize their own food. In the ocean, the four major groups of phytoplanktonic organisms are diatoms, coccolithophorids, dinoflagellates, and bacteria. These primary producers are called autotrophs (meaning self-feeders) because they manufacture the food they need from the physical and chemical environment through photosynthesis (or chemosynthesis). Organisms that feed on autotrophs are consumers or heterotrophs (meaning other-feeders). Heterotrophs may be herbivores (plant eaters), carnivores (animal eaters), or omnivores (plant and animal eaters), like humans. Lastly, decomposers break down the remains of plants and animals and recycle those remains back to inorganic nutrients. A food chain is a linear sequence of feeding relationships among organisms. It begins with producers and progresses upward to consumers and decomposers. Through this feeding relationship, energy and mass moves within an ecosystem. In a marine food chain, phytoplankton are eaten by herbivores, which in turn are eaten by carnivores, which are then eaten by another carnivore and so on. Eventually decomposers recycle the remains back to primary production at the base of the food chain in the form of inorganic nutrients, such as carbon. Such simple food chains rarely exist in the ocean, and marine heterotrophs feed on a variety of organisms. Most marine ecosystems consist of several levels of consumers including fish, marine mammals, and seabirds. The complex feeding relationships within marine ecosystems is more realistically described as a food web and each level of production and consumption is a trophic level. Marine animals rarely feed at only one trophic level. Within food webs, energy is transferred generally in one direction, from lower to higher trophic levels (such as from producers to consumers). As an organism in one trophic level feeds on its prey, only a small portion of the energy stored in the mass of the prey is passed to the next trophic level. Visualize the energy distribution within a food web as a pyramid with producers forming a broad base containing most of the ecosystem's energy. Each higher trophic level contains less energy than the one below it; the percent of energy that passes from one trophic level to the next is ecological efficiency. An ecological efficiency of 10% is typical of marine ecosystems. Ecological efficiency is low because not all parts of an organism are eaten, not all of what is eaten is digestible, and not all energy is converted into biomass.
Transcribed Image Text:Producers provide the base of the marine ecosystem food web. Producers photosynthesize their own food. In the ocean, the four major groups of phytoplanktonic organisms are diatoms, coccolithophorids, dinoflagellates, and bacteria. These primary producers are called autotrophs (meaning self-feeders) because they manufacture the food they need from the physical and chemical environment through photosynthesis (or chemosynthesis). Organisms that feed on autotrophs are consumers or heterotrophs (meaning other-feeders). Heterotrophs may be herbivores (plant eaters), carnivores (animal eaters), or omnivores (plant and animal eaters), like humans. Lastly, decomposers break down the remains of plants and animals and recycle those remains back to inorganic nutrients. A food chain is a linear sequence of feeding relationships among organisms. It begins with producers and progresses upward to consumers and decomposers. Through this feeding relationship, energy and mass moves within an ecosystem. In a marine food chain, phytoplankton are eaten by herbivores, which in turn are eaten by carnivores, which are then eaten by another carnivore and so on. Eventually decomposers recycle the remains back to primary production at the base of the food chain in the form of inorganic nutrients, such as carbon. Such simple food chains rarely exist in the ocean, and marine heterotrophs feed on a variety of organisms. Most marine ecosystems consist of several levels of consumers including fish, marine mammals, and seabirds. The complex feeding relationships within marine ecosystems is more realistically described as a food web and each level of production and consumption is a trophic level. Marine animals rarely feed at only one trophic level. Within food webs, energy is transferred generally in one direction, from lower to higher trophic levels (such as from producers to consumers). As an organism in one trophic level feeds on its prey, only a small portion of the energy stored in the mass of the prey is passed to the next trophic level. Visualize the energy distribution within a food web as a pyramid with producers forming a broad base containing most of the ecosystem's energy. Each higher trophic level contains less energy than the one below it; the percent of energy that passes from one trophic level to the next is ecological efficiency. An ecological efficiency of 10% is typical of marine ecosystems. Ecological efficiency is low because not all parts of an organism are eaten, not all of what is eaten is digestible, and not all energy is converted into biomass.
10. Assume an ecological efficiency of 10% in the simple food chain described in #6. With a supply of 10,000 units of energy in phytoplankton, the maximum possible energy available at the fourth trophic level would be energy units. а. 10 b. 100 с. 1000 d. 10,000
Transcribed Image Text:10. Assume an ecological efficiency of 10% in the simple food chain described in #6. With a supply of 10,000 units of energy in phytoplankton, the maximum possible energy available at the fourth trophic level would be energy units. а. 10 b. 100 с. 1000 d. 10,000
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