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Thinking Scientifically
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1. Considering an ecological pyramid:
a. Why would you expect mice (herbivores) to be more common than weasels, foxes, or hawks (carnivores) in the environment?

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b. Why you would expect food chains to be short-4 or 5 links at most?

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c. The population size of a top predator is not held in check by another predator population. Why does a top predator population not increase constantly in size?

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d. What would you expect to happen to an ecosystem if one of the secondary consumer populations suffered a collapse?

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2. You are an ecologist who has been hired by a less-developed country to help them increase their agricultural yield per acre. Why might you recommend that they
a. retain labor intensive methods instead of adopting mechanized means of growing food?

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b. limit their consumption of meat and use grains and legumes as a source of protein?

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c. not keep cattle in feedlots and feed them grain?

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d. plant as many different varieties of crops as possible?

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e. grow crops that require as little irrigation as possible?

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f. begin a program of population control?

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