What will happen if one organism is removed from the food web and what would happen if carnivores were removed from an ecosystem?
There should be a balance in populations of of each and every organism in a food web. For a sustainable natural ecosystem management, protection and management of all organisms are utmost significant. Those food webs are sustain and smoothly functioning continuously for long time if all necessary organisms under appropriate environmental conditions. So removal existing organisms or addition of new organisms will have serious repercussion. This may be not seen immediately. But in a long run, issues will appear. So better to keep the ecosystem as it is. There were several examples in the world issues associated with changing population densities of native biota.
I think the degree to which an ecosystem changes depends on the nature of the species removed. No matter what trophic level the species is in, if it is a redundant species, that is, its function in the ecosystem are performed by other species, the removal of this species will not be expected to implement too much change on the ecosystem. In contrast, if the removed species is at a key node in the ecological network, the removal will lead to catastrophic change of the ecosystem.
its disappearance will have an effect on populations at the level of the corresponding food chain then in the trophic network of the ecosystem causing its imbalance
Taking one creature out of the food web is like removing a brick from a complex wall. It might seem small, but depending on the organism's role, the whole thing could become unstable. Predator removal is a big deal. Without them, plant-eating animals multiply uncontrollably, devour everything, and the whole ecosystem crumbles.
Imagine a kelp forest ecosystem. Kelp, a giant seaweed, provides food and shelter for many creatures, including sea urchins. These urchins munch on the kelp, keeping its growth in check. But if we remove a predator of the sea urchin, like the sea otter, the urchin population explodes. They devour the kelp faster than it can grow, leaving a barren underwater landscape. This lack of kelp affects countless other species who relied on it for food or habitat. One removal – the sea otter – triggers a chain reaction that devastates the entire kelp forest.
Think of it as dominoes falling – one removal can trigger a chain reaction that topples the entire system.
If an organism is removed from the food chain, it spoils the flow of energy and nutrient in the ecosystem. It disrupts the balance of the food chain. As a result, the organisms which depend on others for food will die due to starvation. If producers are absent from a food web, it can have significant impacts on the entire ecosystem. Some potential consequences include: Loss of energy flow: Producers are the primary source of energy in ecosystems, and their absence would disrupt the flow of energy through the food web. If all the carnivores are removed from the earth, the population of herbivores will increase. Large population of herbivores will overgraze. As a result, all plants will disappear from the earth surface and ultimately the earth may become a desert. So, in answer to our question, although there would be drastic changes in biodiversity of an ecosystem, the food chain would survive without herbivores and carnivores. However, the reverse is not true. Producers are essential to the ecosystem, providing food for everyone else. The herbivore prey population would increase; eat all the food, and then the herbivore population would crash for lack of food. This has been observed to happen multiple times. Carnivores that eat mostly meat are hypercarnivores. Complete answer: If all carnivores are removed from the earth, herbivores will flourish since there will be no one to feed them, and their numbers will skyrocket. When the number of carnivorous animals in an ecosystem declines, the number of herbivores rises. With no predators the populations of all species would initially grow large until the food supply became scarce. Deer who have reduced foliage will produce fewer twins and triplets so they biologically know to slow down reproduction. Some animals would starve but eventually equilibrium would be attained.
The Yellowstone Wolf Project serves as a prime example, albeit in a contrasting manner.
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