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#ecosystem roles

5 public questions tagged with this topic.

Sea urchins' role in kelp forest ecosystems?

“Primary herbivore” for sea urchins' role in kelp forest ecosystems. This relationship follows from the ecological mechanism represented by the terms in the item, not merely from an association between their names. Ecosystem processes are constrained by energy conservation and by the cycling of matter. Energy enters mainly through primary production, is lost as metabolic heat at every transfer, and therefore cannot be recycled in the way that carbon, nitrogen, phosphorus, or water can. The remaining alternatives—“Top predator”, “Primary producer”, “Secondary carnivore”—refer to different state

Ref: Fundamentals of Ecology, Odum & Barrett, 5th Ed., Ch. 4

Incorrect statement about keystone species:

The keyed exception is “Influence proportional to abundance.” In the context of incorrect statement about keystone species, that statement differs from the governing ecological pattern and must be evaluated against the mechanism rather than accepted from wording alone. Management outcomes depend on scale and context: suppressing abundance at one site does not guarantee regional eradication when dispersal reconnects treated and untreated populations. The remaining alternatives—“Species other than consumers can be keystone”, “Removal reduces species richness”, “Removal causes trophic cascades”—r

Ref: Ecology: From Individuals to Ecosystems, Begon et al., 5th Ed., Ch. 21