Question

Write a scientific explanation to describe the impact of the infected papaya trees on the toucan population.

Answer 1

The toucan's daily diet consists of about four papayas and different kinds of nuts as a supplement to provide for its daily nutritional needs.

Claim: The toucans will not be able to get enough energy from the papaya fruit if they eat the same amount of it.

Evidence: The papaya tree changes solar energy into carbohydrates. This chemical energy, carbohydrates, is eaten by the toucan and converted into glucose for the muscles to use. The muscle fibers contract to convert the said chemical into mechanical energy and heat flow. Thus, this, in turn, becomes kinetic energy to be able for the toucan to fly.

Reasoning: The sun's energy is multi-purpose in nature. Aside from its function as an energy source for photosynthesis to occur, it also aids in the conversion of chemical to mechanical to kinetic energy. However, if a disease has infected the papaya tree population which cause the papaya fruit to produce less stored glucose then this may disrupt the efficacy of the chemical energy drawn from the papaya fruit by the toucan. If this happens, there won't be enough glucose produce to fuel the growth, reproduction and natural physiologic function of the toucan to survive.

Scenario: (If there is a diagram) The diagram shows the natural cycle of energy within an ecosystem between the papaya fruit as the energy source and a toucan. The toucan's daily diet consists of four papayas and a variety of nuts which provides the majority of its nutritional needs. A disease has infected the papaya tree population, causing the papaya fruit to produce less stored glucose.

Answer 2

The infected papaya trees will produce less carbohydrates or chemical energy for the toucan. If there were fewer carbohydrates within each papaya, the toucan's muscle cells would not be able to obtain as much chemical energy as they normally do. This chemical energy will be converted into mechanical energy or heat flow, which the toucan uses to fly.

Therefore, the lower amount of mechanical energy and heat flow from the muscle contractions, it would result into a reduced amount of kinetic energy of motion when the toucan is flying.