Picture: This picture shows a wolf (a top predator and an animal at the top of most food chain) eating an animal, possibly a deer, elk, moose, or something else. Without the wolves and other top predators to hunt for their prey, the population of them will grow, causing havoc in the rest of the food chain.
Summary: The loss of top predators is causing an unstable balance in the food chain. These predators aren't being killed by their prey, but by hunting and loss of habitat. This is starting to happen in all food chains, from land to ocean. With the top predator of a food chain missing, the rest of the population starts to rapidly grow. This population then needs to eat, but they are eating too much because there are so many of them, which kills off the smaller things, as well as producers. Without food, these animals that are usually eaten by the top predator will starve, which can lead to the end of a whole entire food chain. In example, when wolves were removed from Yellowstone National Park, the population of the elk and deer (the wolves' prey) skyrocketed. These herbivores ate a ridiculous amount of willow and other tree saplings, destroying the habitats for some animals and even changing stream paths. The wolves had to be reintroduced to Yellowstone to keep the rest of the park wildlife at balance.
Opinion/Reflection: When I first saw this title, I thought that it was good if the top predators of a food chain started to die out, because the other animals would be okay. As it turns out, top predators help keep a whole food chain in balance and keep populations at a reasonable size. Without these predators, whole ecosystems could collapse and everything could end up becoming a disaster. Everything thinks that it's bad when animals kill other animals for food, but it keeps everything under control and without it, technically none of the animals would really be able to survive.
Questions:
1: What do you think are some good ways to help keep top predators alive, but not have too many at the same time?
2: What ecosystem do you think is mostly affected by the top predators disappearing and why?
3: You can't really stop hunters from hunting, but there obviously has to be control over hunting limits. What do you think they could do with the hunters?
4: What do you think destroying animal habitats (knocking down forests, oil spills, etc.) has to do with keeping animal populations under control? How could this be prevented, but still allow humans to live or use that land?
OPIONION/REFLECTION: I thought the same thing as Sam did. I thought that the top predator dying out would be better for the other animals but I was wrong. If the top predators do not die there will be havoc in all ecosystems. Each type of animal, prey or predator, has a job to do. Without one of them, the food web would not be a web, a chain will not be a chain. Nothing would be hunted and the population of the prey would skyrocket out of control. The food web also effects us humans. We have to stop destroying all of the predator's and prey's habitats.Also, we are overhunting certain species. We are one of the main reasons this is a problem.
ReplyDeleteQUESIONS: 1) I think that we have to regulate what we hunt and kill and stop cutting down so many habitats. If we leave the animals an their habitat alone nature should be able to work and balance itself out.
2)I think the ocean would be most effected because it is the largest piece of the earth and holds much more habitats and species we have not even heard or seen before. The ocean is larger and has more animals to worry about than other ecosystems.
3)I think that they should somehow regulate the hunting of animals. The government or wildlife workers should probably give a limit as to how many animals each hunter can hunt. Also, there could be some type of breeding ground for a certain species just as they do to turtles.
4) knocking down forests drives kills many animals out of their habitats. If we keep killing an animal and taking down their home, a whole ecosystem will slowly be vanishing. Once an animals home is taken away, they cannot adapt to other needs and we will kill of a species. Without one speies, the whole balance of the food chain will be way off.
ASK QUESTIONS: Why does losing one animal mean so much to the food chain/web? Do you think the government should have a say in this or is this not worth their time? What do you think would happen if a top predator speies completely died out and what would happen?
Opinion/Reflection: I was actually really surprised by this. I had no idea that the top predators made that much of an impact in the food web. I didn't know that an ecosystem would collapse if the top predator died out. Every organism is important in the food web. They all keep eachother balanced and have an important role to do. It's sad to say, but animals eating other animals keep the food chain going and keeps everything balanced.
ReplyDeleteQuestion Answers:
1. I think people should watch what they hunt and how much of it they hunt. It's okay if some top predators are hunted, but not too many to make their population die out.
2. I agree with Casey and I also think the ocean because the ocean covers more than half the earth and if the ocean food chain was ruined, that would be absolutely terrible. The ocean needs a balanced food web.
3. They could block off certain areas where they don't want hunters to hunt. There should also be limits on what the hunters hunt.
4. Destroying animal habitats can destroy an ecosystem because the animals will no longer have homes and habitats so they will start to die. That is not keeping animal populations under control. Humans can use more free, open land instead of forests and such.
Questions:
1. Do hunters realize what they are doing when they are killing animals?
2. Why do humans destroy the animal's habitats when they dont have to?
Opinion/Reflection: I think it's crazy that if the top of the food chain leaves then the whole food chain goes down! I thought it would've been good for the other animals, like Sam said. I guess thats why they call it a food chain. It makes me think about hunters.. hopefully they won't shoot too many deer and anything to mess up any food chain.
ReplyDeleteQuestions:
1. I think if we mostly leave nature alone, animals can adopt and everything so there can still be hunting but I think that we should stop cutting down so many trees because there are less and less habitats for animals.
2. The water ecosystems, especially the ocean because water is 75% of our planet and there are so many animals that live in oceans, lakes, ponds, etc.
3. There is a fine for anyone who is caught hunting in non-hunting places but that doesn't seem to stop them. I think that there should be a bigger fine and the government should think of some more ways.
4. When we cut down our trees, have oil spills, etc., we are destroying the homes of the animals and they either die or get into another community and over populate places which means they might die off. I think that we should find a way to make houses without cutting down so many trees.
Asking Questions:
Can we do anything to help keep the natural order and food chains for animals? Is there a way to restore some animals food chains?
Opinion/Reflection: I knew of the topic beacause i have been to Yellowstone and the Park Rangers were telling me about how the food cahin was broken when the removed the wolves from the park. The elk population rose and the food chain was very unstable.
ReplyDeleteQuestions:
1. I think that the top predators such as the wolves should be hunted from time to time and keep the population stable.
2.I think the ocean ecosystems would be hurt the most because the ocean is about 75% of the earth and some of our food comes from the ocean.
3. There is an Open Season which is a hunting term and it is 2 week in a year that hunters are aloud to hunt.
4. The oil spill could very well kill all the top predators and all the prey under will become very unstable.
Asking Questions:
Is there anyway we can keep the top predator population stable without killing them?
1)Leave them be. Ecology has a simple principle, to may predators leads to a decrease in their population.
ReplyDelete2)All. Humans are the top predators. Our leaving would leave a huge hole as far as niches are concerned.
3)Leave them be. State governments strictly control the sport hunting of predators, and farmers don't hunt them unless they are killing live stock.
4)They can keep us out by killing us. Predators will kill humans when we force them to see us as a threat or potential food.