Why is it that most top predators (e.g., lions, tigers, bears, and wolves) have extremely large territories and are relatively rare?
What will be an ideal response
The second law of thermodynamics, as it applies to ecological pyramids of biomass, means that a substantially higher amount of ecosystem productivity is required to provide sufficient energy for organisms that feed on a third or fourth trophic level. This results in a need for a large ecological territory to provide sufficient autotrophic surface area to convert enough solar energy to provide for the energy required to be passed through three trophic levels. As a result, an ecosystem can only support a very few of these top predators.
You might also like to view...
What is the order of the Integrated Solid Waste Hierarchy from most desirable to least desirable practices?
Dump Waste (unmanaged) - Engineered Landfill (managed) - Waste reduction (do not generate waste in the first place) - Reuse (find ways to use items over and over again without changing them chemically) - Recycle - Waste to Energy - BioReactor/ Incineration -
Which of the following is an example of tertiary circulation?
A) Migratory high and low pressure systems B) General circulation of the atmosphere C) Subtropical high pressure systems D) Land-sea breezes
World deserts are
A. Decreasing as world climate becomes wetter B. Increasing because of the increase in global carbon dioxide C. Increasing because of logging and grazing D. About the same in area but have many threatened species of plants E. Decreasing because of massive reforestation
Life-cycle analyses
A. provide for unlimited access to resources. B. evaluate material and energy inputs and outputs at each stage of manufacture, use, and disposal of a product. C. have led to an increase in the amount of material going into land-fills.