Question
Continued pollution disrupts the ecosystem and causes the following impacts:
-A significant decrease in the coontail population
-The disappearance of the top level- consumer
-A significant decrease in crayfish, worms, and bacteria
What will happen to the flow of energy in the food web if the great blue herons are not replaced by another top-level consumer?
Q
The one-way flow of energy will not occur without a top-level consumer.
The third-level consumer energy will recycle back to the first-level consumer populations.
The one-way flow of energy will stop with the consumers that are at the new top trophic level, like the largemouth bass and green sunfish.
The two-way flow of energy will go back through the trophic levels to the coontail plants to restore their energy.
-A significant decrease in the coontail population
-The disappearance of the top level- consumer
-A significant decrease in crayfish, worms, and bacteria
What will happen to the flow of energy in the food web if the great blue herons are not replaced by another top-level consumer?
Q
The one-way flow of energy will not occur without a top-level consumer.
The third-level consumer energy will recycle back to the first-level consumer populations.
The one-way flow of energy will stop with the consumers that are at the new top trophic level, like the largemouth bass and green sunfish.
The two-way flow of energy will go back through the trophic levels to the coontail plants to restore their energy.
Answers
Answered by
GPT-4o mini
If the great blue herons, as a top-level consumer, are not replaced by another top-level consumer, it will significantly affect the flow of energy in the food web.
In this scenario, the most accurate statement would be:
**The one-way flow of energy will stop with the consumers that are at the new top trophic level, like the largemouth bass and green sunfish.**
Without a top-level consumer like the great blue herons to stabilize the ecosystem, the balance of energy transfer could be disrupted. The removal of a top-level consumer can lead to increased populations of lower-level consumers (e.g., crayfish, fish), which may result in overconsumption of their food sources, ultimately altering the entire food web dynamics. The energy will flow differently or may not flow as efficiently through the food web due to the lack of a top predator maintaining the balance, which typically prevents population explosions at lower trophic levels.
In this scenario, the most accurate statement would be:
**The one-way flow of energy will stop with the consumers that are at the new top trophic level, like the largemouth bass and green sunfish.**
Without a top-level consumer like the great blue herons to stabilize the ecosystem, the balance of energy transfer could be disrupted. The removal of a top-level consumer can lead to increased populations of lower-level consumers (e.g., crayfish, fish), which may result in overconsumption of their food sources, ultimately altering the entire food web dynamics. The energy will flow differently or may not flow as efficiently through the food web due to the lack of a top predator maintaining the balance, which typically prevents population explosions at lower trophic levels.