Biosphere is a global ecosystem composed of living organisms and abiotic factors from which they derive energy and nutrients. And ecosystem is defined as structural and functional unit of the biosphere comprising of living and non-living environment that interact by means of food chains and chemical cycles resulting in energy flow, biotic diversity and material cycling to form a stable, self-supporting system

Consider the following statements concerning food chains: (i) Removal of 80% tigers from an area resulted in greatly increased growth of vegetation (ii) Removal of most of the carnivores resulted in an increased population of herbivores. (iii) The length of the food chains is generally limited to 3 – 4 trophic levels due to energy loss (iv) The length of the food chains may vary from 2 to 8 trophic levels
Which two of the above statements are correct?

Options

A. (I),(IV)
B. (I),(II)
C. (II),(III)
D. (III),(IV)

Answer

C

Explanation

Removal of tigers from an area will lead to an increase in number of herbivores and hence there will be decreased growth of vegetation in that particular area. The number of trophic levels in a food chain does not reach 8 rather there are 3 or 4 trophic levels.