EVERYDAY SCIENCE

SCIENCE

ECOLOGY

Question [CLICK ON ANY CHOICE TO KNOW THE RIGHT ANSWER]
If one species is lost from a food web the community will probably collapse.
A
True
B
False
C
Either A or B
D
None of the above
Explanation: 

Detailed explanation-1: -The species that make up an ecosystem are connected in complex ‘food webs’ of eater and eaten. When one species disappears, its predators can no longer eat it and its prey are no longer eaten by it. Changes in these populations affect others. Such impact ‘cascades’ can be unpredictable and sometimes catastrophic.

Detailed explanation-2: -If a species has a unique function in its ecosystem, its loss can prompt cascading effects through the food chain (a “trophic cascade”), impacting other species and the ecosystem itself. An often-cited example is the impact of the wolves in Yellowstone Park, which were hunted to near extinction by 1930.

Detailed explanation-3: -If one species is removed it can affect the whole community. This is called interdependence. A stable community is one where all the species and environmental factors are in balance so that population sizes remain fairly constant.

There is 1 question to complete.