Advertisements
Advertisements
Question
What will happen if we kill all the organisms in one trophic level?
Advertisements
Solution 1
If we kill all the organisms at one trophic level, it will create an imbalance in the ecosystem. For example, in a food chain, Grass → Deer → Lion, if we remove all lions, then the population of deer will increase, which will cause overgrazing. This will lead to deforestation. It may even lead to soil erosion, causing the further conversion of fertile land into barren deserts.
Solution 2
If we kill all the organisms in one trophic level, the transfer of food energy to the next trophic level will stop. This will cause a break in the food chain, resulting in an imbalance in the ecosystem. As a result, the organisms of the higher trophic level will also die, while the individuals of the lower trophic level will exhibit enormous growth in their population. Both conditions will result in an ecological upset.
APPEARS IN
RELATED QUESTIONS
Give reason to justify the following: Flow of energy in a food chain is unidirectional.
What is biological magnification?
In the following food chain, 100 J of energy is available to the lion. How much energy was available to the producer?
Plants → Deer → Lion
What name has been given to those organisms which break down the complex organic compounds present in dead animals and plants?
Can the organisms of any trophic level be removed without causing any damage to the ecosystem? Will the impact of removing all the organisms in a trophic level be different for different trophic levels?
Consider the food chain :
Grass → Deer → Lion
What will happen if all the lions are removed from the above food chain?
Write one or two word for the following statement/definition :
Each level of food chain where transfer of energy takes place
Which of the following are decomposers of dead organisms?
| Bacteria | Fungi | Viruses |
| (a) no | yes | yes |
| (b) yes | no | yes |
| (c) yes | yes | no |
| (d) yes | yes | yes |
If a grasshopper is eaten by a frog, then the energy transfer will be from ______.
A food chain occurring in the sea which provides food for many people can be written as :
phytoplankton → zooplankton → X → Y
Name two zooplanktons.
Name the process in which a harmful chemical enters the food chain and gets concentrated at each trophic level.
If a harmful chemical enters a food chain comprising cat, mice and plants, which one of these organisms is likely to have the maximum concentration of the harmful chemical in its body?
Fill in the following blank with suitable word :
Plants → Antelope → ............
Will the levels of biological magnification be different at different levels of the ecosystem?
Which common pesticide has accumulated in human body in considerable amounts?
In the food chain given below, if the amount of energy available at fourth trophic level is 5 kJ, what was the energy available at the producer level?
Grass → Grasshopper → Frog → Snake → Hawk
(a) 500 kJ
(b) 50 kJ
(c) 5000 kJ
(d) 5 kJ
A food chain comprises of cat, seed-eating bird, plants, and dog. The organism which will have the maximum concentration of harmful pesticides coming through the food chain is most likely to be :
(a) cat
(b) plants
(c) dog
(d) seed-eating bird
The ten per cent law is associated with
(a) transfer of energy from various trophic levels to decomposers in a food chain
(b) transfer of ATP energy into muscular energy
(c) transfer of chemical energy from one organism to another
(d) transfer of sun's energy to the organisms called producers.
A food chain consists of fish, larvae, phytoplanktons and birds. The level of pesticides in water in which the fish, larvae and phytoplanktons live is quite high.
Which organism will have the maximum amount of pesticides accumulated through the food chain? What is this process known as?
Observe the food web and answer the questions given below:

Why do all food chains start with plants?
