2. CLICK HERE to watch a video clip that explains the process of eutrophication of a lake.
2.1 How does the excess algae growth affect the quality of the water?
3. CLICK HERE to watch a video clip on how humans can affect the ecosystems.
3.1 Why do top predators accumulate more toxic substances in their body tissues?
how does the excess algae growth affect the quality of the water?
ReplyDeletewhen excess algae die, aerobic bacteria decompose them, eventually using all of the oxygen in the water, killing fish and aquatic plants. eventually, as more nutrients run into the lake, the bacteria starts to proliferate and produce hydrogen sulfide, which is toxic and foul smelling, and highly flammable methane
3.1 Why do top predators accumulate more toxic substances in their body tissues?
ReplyDeleteIt works like this. Let's say you have plants which have a small amount of toxins in them. Herbivorous insects eat much of the plant and the toxins build up in small amounts in the body. Predators which eat the insects will accumulate more toxins than the insects did because for every insect they eat, they eat all of the toxins which were eaten by the insect. Then, tertiary consumers will eat all of the toxins in all of the insects eaten by every single secondary consumer which the tertiary consumer eats. So over time in the food chain, the amount of toxins ingested accumulates to the top predator, who has eaten all of the toxins eaten by all of the other animals in that chain.
Mrs Alonso i took the practice regents in the book you told us and i got a 28 out of 30. we didnt learn some stuff though from there like #26. Farming reduces the natural diversity of an area. But farming is needed to feed the population. what type of situation is this?
ReplyDeletei know that it is a trade-off but will we learn about this stuff because i dont want to be stranded on the regents like this,
3.1 Why do top predators accumulate more toxic substances in their body tissues?
ReplyDeleteWell, for example, a little fish eats some algae with "2" toxin in it. And a bigger fish comes along and eats THAT fish plus another, because it's so small. So there are now 4 toxins. Then if the top predator, i.e. a shark, eats two of the big fish, it totals up to 8. In short, toxins keep accumulating until the top predator consumes it.
2.1 How does the excess algae growth affect the quality of the water?
ReplyDeleteExcess algae growth causes the surface of the water to be covered completely by algae. The algae soon die off, and anaerobic decomposers break down and decompose the dead algae. The decomposers deplete the water of all the dissolved oxygen. The fish that use that oxygen to breathe die off. the aquatic plants also die off as a result of the oxygen depletion. In that water, anaerobic bacteria thrives and creates hydrogen sulfide and methane, both foul-smelling gases. So basically, algae growth results in a waters full of dead, decaying organisms and a place for anaerobic bacteria to thrive and create a rather odorous environment.
3.1 Why do top predators accumulate more toxic substances in their body tissues?
Top predators accumulate more toxic substances in their body tissues because of biomagnification. The producers at the end of the food chain have a small amount of toxins. The herbivores eating those plants also intake the toxins. Since the herbivores eat multiple plants, they accumulate the toxins of the plants many times over. Then, the next organism in the food chain that eats the herbivores intake the toxins that the herbivores accumulated, and so on and so forth until the top predator. Every step in the food chain results in accumulation of toxins. The top predator intakes all of the toxins that accumulated in the food chain, so they accumulate the most toxic substances in their tissues.
Since everyone already answered all of the questions and I'd just be repeating what they said, I'll ask a question. It's sort of similar to Daniel's, but I have noticed that in some past Regents tests there are still topics we haven't covered, and if the test day comes, what should we do if we come to a question like that?
ReplyDelete