Discursive questions about the food chain

To the food chains are the relationships between matter and energy that living things use to survive and carry out other activities.

We prepared a list of discursive questions about food chain so that you can test your knowledge about the energetic relationships between living beings.

You can consult the answers and save this list of exercises in PDF at the end of the post!

Discursive questions about the food chain

1) Maria is a vegetarian and one of her favorite vegetables is broccoli. His brother João does not have the same eating habits. Despite eating vegetables, he does not give up eating meat. His favorite dish is surubim fish, which, in turn, feeds on small fish that eat phytoplankton. Based on Maria and João's diet, describe the food chain they are part of, citing the positions each one occupies.

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2) Plastic has already entered the Earth's food chain. A study shows that: […] Although there have been studies for years on the entry of plastic into the marine food chain, this would be the first to document the phenomenon in the terrestrial environment. […] Analyzing the soil, worms and feces of domestic chickens from ten vegetable gardens in the Mexican reserve, the team detected the presence of plastic in the land and even inside land animals – which, considering they are a food source for many people, poses a health risk human. […] The earthworms end up ingesting the plastic along with the earth. Thus, when they are devoured by chickens, they transport these substances into the stomach and gizzards of birds, which, in turn, are ingested by humans. It is also possible that chickens contaminate themselves directly, ingesting plastic from the soil when pinching pieces that are adhered to leftover food. […]

_{Available in:. Accessed on: May 14, 2017.}

Considering that earthworms feed exclusively on plant detritus, present in the soil, what would be the role of man in this chain of the previous fragment?

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3) Food chains show the dynamics of transfers of materials and energy between the different organisms in an ecosystem. As an organism can often feed on more than one type of animal or plant, food relationships become complex, being represented by food webs. What are the tasks of organisms occupying the first trophic level?

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4) Consider a vulture that feeds on an ox, what position does the vulture occupy in the food chain?

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5) According to Odum, in his book “Ecologia”, among the types of ecological pyramids, the energy pyramid is, by far, the one that provides the best image of the functional nature of communities. However, it is known that some of the energy is dissipated as heat, eventually returning to space as infrared radiation. Explain how energy flows in ecosystems.

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6) In nature, some beings can occupy several roles in different food chains. An organism can feed on different living beings, in addition to serving as food for several others. The result is that food chains intersect in nature, forming what we call a food web. In these chains, which beings are capable of transforming dead organic matter into inorganic matter that can be reused by other living beings?

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7) The study related to food chains allows us to understand how the concentrations of certain substances are passed along the ecosystem. What is the name of the phenomenon that occurs when there is progressive accumulation of a toxic substance in the tissues of individuals from one trophic level to another along the food chain?

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8) Fly larvae develop in the body of dead animals, feeding on the substances in them. What is their role in the food chain and what type of food chain do they belong to?

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9) According to a report by FAPESP magazine (issue 62), entitled Without animals, the forest dies, the disappearance of animals that disperse seeds endangers the survival of remnants of the Atlantic Forest. An example is the dispersion of jatobá seeds by the agouti. The agouti eats some seeds and buries the rest, to have food in another season. When it changes territory, forgets a seed or is preyed upon by jaguars, the abandoned seed germinates and gives rise to a new plant. What is the ecological concept represented in this fragment of text?

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10) The food chain is a sequence of animals interconnected through their food, those at the top feed on the animals below. An example of this system is found in Yellowstone National Park, USA, when wolves were reintroduced in 1995. After the reintroduction of wolves in Yellowstone, the entire ecosystem of the river valleys was modified, greatly increasing the number of species in these places. One of the species that returned to the park was the beaver. What influence do wolves have on beavers?

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Question Answers

1 – A food chain that Maria and João are inserted has individuals vegetarians It is omnivores. Thus, Maria acts as a primary consumer and João can fit both as a primary and tertiary consumer.

2 – Man occupies the position of tertiary consumer in this chain.

3 – The organisms of the first trophic level are responsible for producing organic matter from inorganic compounds that are taken from nature.

4 – The vulture occupies the position of tertiary consumer.

5 – The flow of energy in the ecosystems it is unidirectional and follows the principles of the second law of thermodynamics.

6 – The beings capable of decomposing organic matter are the fungus and the bacteria.

7 – Trophic magnification.

8 – They are decomposers and the food chain is of the detritive type.

9 – This fragment presents the concept of food chain, as it shows the relationships between the jatobá, the agouti and the jaguar.

10 – Wolves, as they are carnivores, act by scaring the deer from the valleys, thus, the vegetation that was no longer removed increased its cover and, with that, the beavers obtain more raw material.

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Read too:

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• List of exercises on food chains
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