Chapter 38, Problem 9WIO

Summary Introduction

To predict:

How elk population fluctuated in years preceding wolf extermination and in the years following wolf reintroduction. Elk typically eats foliage from shrubs and trees, required by beavers and birds. Explain how beaver and bird populations might have changed since in the 1990s.

Concept introduction:

Organism feed on the matter, energy and one another through the community from particular “trophic level”. A trophic level is a rank in the hierarchy of feeding. At each trophic level, organisms use energy such as for cellular respiration and an only small portion of the energy is transferred to next level. Producers occupy first trophic level while consumers (primary) occupy second trophic level. The third trophic level is occupied by consumers that prey on primary consumers. Food chain is a series of organisms that successively feed one another.