Practice question

Low predation is not a standard explanation for exceptionally high tropical biodiversity. Stable warm climates, long evolutionary time, high productivity, and strong spatial heterogeneity can promote niche specialisation and coexistence. Intense competition may encourage resource partitioning, while predation can prevent competitive exclusion by limiting dominant species. Thus reduced predation would not generally account for maintaining many competitors; in some systems, stronger consumer pressure can actually support diversity. Energy is lost as metabolic heat at every trophic transfer, while elements such as nitrogen and phosphorus are recycled through organisms and the physical environment. Mechanistic interpretation connects individual physiology and species interactions to population change, community composition, and ecosystem-level fluxes. Reliable inference requires the complete experimental design, definitions, units, and statistical evidence; missing labels cannot be reconstructed from an answer key alone. Net primary production equals gross primary production minus plant respiration and represents biomass or energy made available for growth and consumers.