Why Is The World Green?

If a population's diet consists of 90% grain, a national focus on increasing grain production is unnecessary.

What are the 3 basic levels of a food chain?

What is the general convention regarding how each level of a food web impacts the next level?

Bob Paine's hypothesis suggested that herbivores were primarily controlled by what factor?

In tide pools, animals are organized into ______.

In Bob Paine's experiments at Mukkaw Bay, what was the primary predator that he studied?

Removing starfish from a tide pool area led to an increase in algal species diversity.

How did the removal of the primary predator affect community diversity in Paine's tide pool experiments?

What is a keystone species?

The removal of a keystone species can cause ______ collapse.

Jim Estes studied sea otters in the Aleutian Islands.

What was the primary food source that sea otters regulated in the Aleutian Islands' kelp forest ecosystems?

What impact did the absence of sea otters have on kelp beds in the Aleutian Islands?

In the absence of otters, ______ populations increased, resulting in greatly reduced kelp.

Otters are not considered a keystone species.

Match the term with its correct description.

What was the direct result of the mission to eradicate the sparrows?

The mission to eradicate sparrows had no large impact on the ecosystem.

What negative consequence did the eradication of sparrows lead to?

The unintended consequence of eradicating sparrows was an explosion of ______, which caused a famine.

What is the initial national focus when dealing with a population primarily dependent on grain?

Preventing grain loss is typically a lower priority than increasing grain production for a nation heavily reliant on grain.

Why might eradicating a specific species, like sparrows, negatively impact an ecosystem?

Food chains are usually organized into three basic levels: Producers, herbivores, and ______.

Match each ecological role with its corresponding description.

Paine's experiment involved choosing a 150 square foot area. What key action did he take within this space to initiate his ecological study?

Bob Paine's experiments revealed that predators always increase the biodiversity of a community.

Why can removing a keystone predator from an ecosystem lead to significant changes in community structure?

In Aleutian Islands, the reduction in sea otter populations due to fur trading led to increased ______ populations and reduced kelp forests.

Match each organism to its ecological role in the Aleutian Islands ecosystem:

If a population's diet primarily consists of grain and measures are taken to eradicate grain-eating birds, what potential ecological consequence could arise?

Jim Estes's studies on sea otters imply that top-down control mechanisms are insignificant in structuring marine ecosystems.

Identify the ecological concept demonstrated by Bob Paine's experiments on starfish in intertidal zones.

In an ecosystem, if the herbivores are controlled from the top down, this implies that ______ are a key factor regulating the herbivore population.

Match the scientist with their work.