Food Web Analysis Classwork

Directions: Refer to the everglades ecosystem food web on page 75 of your textbook
and answer the following questions.

1) Name two primary consumers that are also omnivores.

2) What organisms are the decomposers in this ecosystem?
3) Name three tertiary consumers in this food web.
4) If the population of pig frogs was removed from this ecosystem, what would be
the effect on the primary producers? On the raccoons? Explain your reasoning.
5) If the population of killfish was removed from this ecosystem, what would be the
effect on the everglades crayfish? On the grass shrimp? Explain your reasoning.
6) If the primary producers convert 10,000 J of sunlight energy to food energy, how
much energy is available for the bobcat to use? How can you explain this?
7) What is biomass?
8) Draw reasonable pyramids of biomass and numbers for this ecosystem. Use
g/m2 for biomass.
9) Give three examples of human activity that could affect this ecosystem.
10) In a particular savannah (grassland) ecosystem, a mountain lion eats 510
kg of deer meat each year, as well as sheep, porcupines, and other small game.
However, the lion will only eat 50% of the deer she kills. One deer eats about
1660 kg of vegetation each year in the form of woody plants, grasses, and wild
roses. One square kilometer of deer habitat produces 380 kg of deer food each
year.
a. How many square kilometers of habitat are needed to support one deer for one
year?
b. How many deer are needed to feed one mountain lion for a year if the average
deer is 70 kg?
c. How many square kilometers of vegetation are needed to support one mountain
lion for one year?