Consider the following statements concerning food chains. A. Removal of 80% tigers from an area resulted in greatly increased growth of vegetation. B. Removal of most of the carnivores resulted in an increased population of deer. C. The length of food chains is generally limited to 3­-4 trophic levels due to energy loss. D. The length of food chains may vary from 2 to 8 trophic levels. Which two of the above statements are correct?

Explanation

Removal of 80% of tigers (i.e., tertiary consumer) from an area resulted in decreased growth of vegetation because there will be increased numbers of secondary or primary consumers that feed on a green plant. Removal of most of the carnivores resulted in an increased population of deer on which carnivores depend. The length of the food chain is generally limited to 3­-4 trophic level due to energy loss because all the food available at one level is neither eaten nor used by animals at the next level and a lot of the energy is lost in respiration to drive the organism's metabolism so less energy is left to support higher trophic level.