1. The table below gives rough estimates of food chain lengths from various fiel

Question

1.   The table below gives rough estimates of food chain lengths from various field studies and is taken from the Ricklefs textbook.

a)   Based on Ricklefs’ analysis, what factor appears to consistently control the length of food chains in different ecosystems?
b)   Explain the ecological basis for this relationship?
c)   Describe one other factor that has been argued to control food chain length in some ecosystems. This factor does not necessarily have to be supported by the data in this table.

Trophic level transfer efficiency Net primary production (kcal/m2/year) 500 Consumer ingestion (kcal/m2/year) Number of trophic levels in food chain Community 7.1 5.1 4.3 3.2 25 Open ocean Coastal marine Temperate grassland Tropical forest 10.0 1.0 10.0 8000 20 2000 10 8000 5

Explanation / Answer

1. The table below gives rough estimates of food chain lengths from various fiel

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