You are a game warden in a National Park in India, and you are studying elephant
ID: 185529 • Letter: Y
Question
You are a game warden in a National Park in India, and you are studying elephant ecology. As part of your project you have collected the following data:
Net Primary Production of the Park
747.0
Total Biomass of Elephants
7.1
Elephant
Food Ingested
71.5
Fecal Material and Urine Lost
40.2
Maintenance Metabolism (Respiration)
31.0
Growth
0.3
BE SURE TO SHOW ALL YOUR CALCULATIONS FOR THESE QUESTIONS.
1. If the only herbivores in the park were elephants, what is the ecological efficiency of the primary producers?
2. What is the average residence time of a carbon atom in an elephant?
Net Primary Production of the Park
747.0
Total Biomass of Elephants
7.1
Elephant
Food Ingested
71.5
Fecal Material and Urine Lost
40.2
Maintenance Metabolism (Respiration)
31.0
Growth
0.3
Explanation / Answer
Residence time is the average time C atom spend in any reservoir.
To calculate this time in land animal(elephants) we will use the formula
Total no of gigatons(Gt) C in land animals/C atoms back to atm due to decompostion+C atom back to atm by respiration+release of C atoms due to deforestaton.
=600Gt/60Gt per year+ 50Gt per year+1.6Gt per year
=5.1 years
Related Questions
Navigate
Integrity-first tutoring: explanations and feedback only — we do not complete graded work. Learn more.