2a.You are studying how energy flows in a food web. The data in Table 1 shows th

Question

2a.You are studying how energy flows in a food web. The data in Table 1 shows the dietary composition of species in your study area (for species A–H). To read the data table, start at a species in column 1, read to the right across that row to find the number of individuals consumed, then read straight up to determine the species that it consumed. For example, species C consumed 15 individuals of species A. Use the data in the table to answer the following questions.

2b. Create a new table (this will be Table 2) with three columns; species, species consumed, and classification (by diet). Determine which species were consumed by each species. Then, based this information, classify each species by its diet (e.g., herbivore, etc.). Based purely on the number of species consumed, which species was the most generalist in terms of consumption of other species? How many different species did this generalist consume?

2c. What is unusual about the dietary composition of species E? Give two possible reasons for this pattern.

2d. Refer to Table 1. In preparation for constructing a food web for your study area, you need to determine the dietary preferences of your species. For each species, quantify the percent of the total diet comprised by each of the species consumed. Enter you data in a table (this will be Table 3), and for each species, place an asterisk next to its most preferred prey.

2e. Using the data in Tables 1–3, construct diagram of a food web for your study area (this will be Figure 1). Separate trophic levels between horizontal lines, and number each trophic level. Indicate the classification for the species in each trophic level (i.e., secondary consumers, etc.). Indicate each species on its appropriate trophic level. Finally, sketch arrows between the species names to indicate which species consume which other species, using the data in Table 2.

Table 1 Species consumed Total individuals A B C D E F G H consumed 0 A 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 B 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 C 15 20 0 0 0 5 0 0 40 D 2 16 0 0 0 8 0 0 26 E 0 0 10 1 0 0 F 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 H 0 0 0 0 0

Explanation / Answer

species

species consumed

classification (by diet)

A

Nil

Producers

B

Nil

Producers

C

A-15, B-20, F-5

Herbivore (because A, B and F are producers)

D

A-2, B-16, F-8

Herbivore (because A, B and F are producers)

E

C-2. D-10, E-1, G-5

Carnivore (because C,D, G are herbivores)

F

Nil

Producers

G

A-1, C-2, D-1, E-1, F-2,

Omnivore (because A, Fare producers and C,D are herbivore)

H

E-4, G-2

Carnivore (because E,G are carnivore/omnivore)

Species H is the most generalist among all the species. It can consume a total of five species (A, C, D, E and F).

Kindly ask remaining questions as separate post!!!

species

species consumed

classification (by diet)

A

Nil

Producers

B

Nil

Producers

C

A-15, B-20, F-5

Herbivore (because A, B and F are producers)

D

A-2, B-16, F-8

Herbivore (because A, B and F are producers)

E

C-2. D-10, E-1, G-5

Carnivore (because C,D, G are herbivores)

F

Nil

Producers

G

A-1, C-2, D-1, E-1, F-2,

Omnivore (because A, Fare producers and C,D are herbivore)

H

E-4, G-2

Carnivore (because E,G are carnivore/omnivore)

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