Consider the following food chain: hawk - rabbit - clover. Each species will contain a different amount of calories in its body (clover: 10 calories, rabbit: 500 and hawk: 1200). Each species has a different daily caloric requirement (clover: sunlight, rabbit: 100 calories, hawk: 300).
How many clover plants, per day, does it take to support a family of hawks (mom, dad and juvenile. Assume each hawk needs the same number of calories per day)?
A) approximately 1800 clover plants
B) approximately 600 clover plants
C) approximately 100 clover plants
D) approximately 18,000 clover plants
E) None, hawks do not eat clover plants.

Question

Quizplus · Accepted Answer

Each hawk requires 300 calories per day. A family of three hawks requires 900 calories per day. Since each rabbit provides 500 calories, they need 2 rabbits per day (1000 calories). Each rabbit requires 100 calories, which is 10 clover plants (10 calories each). Therefore, 2 rabbits need 20 clover plants per day. To support the hawks, 1800 clover plants are needed (900 calories from hawks / 500 calories per rabbit * 100 calories per rabbit / 10 calories per clover).

Consider the Following Food Chain: Hawk - Rabbit - Clover