To analyze:
Why herbivores must spend a large portion of each day, eating.
Introduction:
The food of herbivores is easily available, but difficult to digest.
Explanation of Solution
Plants are easily available sources of food; however, they are difficult to digest. Plants are filled with fiber, and provide fewer kilocalories per unit of weight than the meat that carnivores or omnivores eat does. Therefore, herbivores need to eat larger amounts, and more often than carnivores do, to get sufficient energy and nutrients.
Since plants have more fiber, they are harder to digest and provide fewer kilocalories than the meat-based diet of carnivores does. This is why herbivores need to eat throughout the day.
Want to see more full solutions like this?
Chapter 23 Solutions
What Is Life? A Guide to Biology with Physiology & LaunchPad for What is Life? A Guide to Biology with Physiology (Twelve Month Access)
- Define the terms herbivore, carnivore, detritivore, and omnivore.arrow_forwardDistinguish the terms in the following pairs: autotrophic and heterotrophic; phototrophic and chemotrophic; herbivores and carnivores; omnivores and insectivores.arrow_forward“The pyramid of energy is always upright” states that A)The energy conversion efficiency of herbivores is better than carnivores. B)The energy conversion efficiency of carnivores is better than herbivores C)Producers have the lowest energy conversion efficiency D)Energy conversion efficiency is the same in all trophic levelsarrow_forward
- Why are decomposers and detritivores essential parts of all food websarrow_forwardA trade-off of heterotrophic carnivores in gaining energy is that food is: scarce but it's easy to capture and kill their very nutritious food. abundant but it's nutritious. scarce but it's nutritious. abundant but it's difficult to capture and kill their very nutritious food.arrow_forwardWhich of the following statements about nutrient challenges faced by organisms is FALSE? Carnivores are limited by the ratio of carbon to nitrogen found in prey. Detritivores consume food rich in carbon but poor in nitrogen. Plants can exhibit the same type of functional response curve describing the rate of energy intake as carnivores. The diet of a carnivore can vary geographically depending on the availability of prey.arrow_forward
- Which of these characteristics are true for consumers? They occupy the first level of a food web. They provide food for all other organisms. They make carbon dioxide available to plants. They can synthesize their own food.arrow_forwardWhat is the initial source of energy for this food webarrow_forwardDo larval mosquitos or adult mosquitos have more nutritional value in the context of a food chain? Why?arrow_forward
- What are 7 herbivores organismsarrow_forwarda) List two animals which feed primarily on fluids b) List one animal that relies on symbiotic algae for nutrition c) List one animal that is a piscivore for most of its dietarrow_forwardWhich of the following is an example of a secondary consumer? a)A spider that eats herbivorous insects b)A plant that uptakes nutrients from the soil c)A cow that eats grass d)A shark that eats a tuna that eats other fisharrow_forward