To calculate how many hawks can be supported by 250,000 kilograms of producers, we need to consider the energy transfer through the food chain.
Given that the mass of a hawk is 500 grams and 1 kilogram is equivalent to 1,000 grams, we can calculate that each hawk requires 0.5 kilograms of mice to be sustained (500 grams ÷ 1,000 = 0.5 kilograms).
Now, let's calculate how many mice can be supported by 250,000 kilograms of grass (producers).
If mice eat the grass seeds, we can estimate that around 10% of the energy from the grass is transferred to the mice. Therefore, for every 1 kilogram of grass consumed, around 0.1 kilograms is converted into mouse biomass.
To determine the amount of mouse biomass that can be produced from 250,000 kilograms of grass, we can multiply 250,000 by 0.1, which equals 25,000 kilograms of mouse biomass.
Since each hawk requires 0.5 kilograms of mice to be sustained, we can now calculate how many hawks can be supported by the 25,000 kilograms of mouse biomass.
25,000 kilograms ÷ 0.5 kilograms per hawk = 50,000 hawks
Therefore, 50,000 hawks can be supported by 250,000 kilograms of producers in the prairie ecosystem.
Grasses are the dominant producers in the prairie ecosystem. Mice eat the grass seeds, snakes eat the mice, and hawks eat the snakes.
The mass of a hawk is around 500 grams.
In this ecosystem, how many hawks can be supported by 250,000 kilograms of producers?
Recall that 1 kilogram is equivalent to 1,000 grams.
5,000
5,000
0.5
500
250
1 answer
1 answer