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Chapter 46: Q.26 (page 1369)

Compare and contrast food chains and food webs. What are the strengths of each concept in describing ecosystems?

Short Answer

Expert verified
  • A food chain is a basic network that shows the linear flow of nutrients and energy from one trophic level to another.
  • A food web is a multitude of food chains that are interconnected at many trophic levels.

Step by step solution

01

Step 1. Introduction 

An ecosystem consists of all the organisms and the physical environment with which they interact. These biotic and abiotic components are linked together through nutrient cycles and energy flows. Energy enters the system through photosynthesis and is incorporated into plant tissue.

02

Step 2. Explanation 

  • Food chains are easier to follow and use for experimental studies because they are a linear description of the succession of organisms consuming one another at defined trophic levels.
  • Food webs consider more accurate representation of the structure and dynamics of an ecosystem because they show the interactions between organisms across different trophic levels.

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Most popular questions from this chapter

The loss of an apex consumer would impact which trophic level of a food web? a. primary producers b. primary consumers c. secondary consumers d. all of the above .

Compare and contrast food chains and food webs.

What are the strengths of each concept in describing ecosystems?

Discuss how the human disruption of the carbon cycle has caused ocean acidification.

Compare grazing and detrital food webs. Why would they both be present in the same ecosystem?

Pyramids depicting the number of organisms or biomass may be inverted, upright, or even diamond-shaped. Energy pyramids, however, are always upright. Why?
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