Question

The data showed that recently the alligator population has decreased. How could the decrease in the alligator population affect the other populations? Be sure to explain whether the gar population, the diving duck population, and the crab population will change, and why.

Answer 1

Answer:

Since the alligator population decreased, this means there are less predators for the gar. Less predators for the gar mean the gar population will increase. More gar means more predators for the crabs, and therefore decrease the crab population. More gar also means more competition for the diving duck in terms of animals that eat crabs, and thus the diving duck population will also decrease.

Explanation:

To fully understand this question it is important to realize the relationship in this food web. It is important to note that the alligators will eat gar, the gar will eat crab, and the diving duck also eat carb. If the predator population decreases, then the amount of prey will be able to increase since there are less predators hunting them. If the predator population were to increase, there would be less prey, since more predators are hunting them.

Answer 2

The gar will increase since there are less alligators, the crabs will decrease since there are now more gar to eat them, the duck will increase since now there is less crab to eat them