Can there be more carnivores than herbivores in a terrestrial land ecosystem and why are herbivores more abundant than carnivores?
May be its an ecological balance if number of herbivores decrease there will be excessive growth of vegetation and forest so herbivores population will control vegetation and carnivores can control herbivore population though they are less in number by hunting an animal in uniform interval Rk Naresh
There are more herbivores than carnivores. An ecosystem cannot support a large number of omnivores without supporting an even larger number of herbivores, and an even larger number of autotrophs. A healthy food web has an abundance of autotrophs, many herbivores, and relatively few carnivores and omnivores. Hence, there can never be more carnivores than herbivores in an ecosystem, by mass, as too much energy is lost at each trophic level. No, there must be more herbivores because the herbivores provide food for the primary consumers. If the carnivores outnumbered the herbivores, the herbivores would die out and the carnivores would begin to starve. This will create an imbalance in the food chain resulting in the reduction in population of herbivores as carnivores would feed on them and increasing the population of producers as there will be less herbivore to feed on plants. Big predators are rare because a lot more energy is required to support a single predator than a single herbivore. Many ecosystems do not have enough energy to support a large population of predators. There are more herbivores than carnivores in a food chain because. (i) Much energy is lost in the transfer of energy from herbivores to carnivores. (ii) A larger number of herbivores are needed to support a smaller number of carnivores. (iii) This is the way for the food chain to stay in the equilibrium. There are more herbivores than carnivores. An ecosystem cannot support a large number of omnivores without supporting an even larger number of herbivores, and an even larger number of autotrophs. A healthy food web has an abundance of autotrophs, many herbivores, and relatively few carnivores and omnivores. This equilibrium helps preserve and recycle carbon for the ecosystem. Moreover, there is a greater number of smaller species than bigger ones. Herbivores are, however, more abundant than carnivores. This is because energy get's used by each trophic level before it moves up to the next trophic level. By the time the energy level reaches the top, there's really not a lot of energy to go around. This is why there are more plants than herbivores and more herbivores than carnivores. The primary producer uses some of that energy. Because we lose energy each time we move up a trophic level, we have more producers than consumers, more herbivores than carnivores, more primary consumers than secondary consumers.
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