Q55.1-2CC - Campbell Biology

Question

You are studying nitrogen cycling on the Serengeti Plain in Africa. During your experiment, a herd of migrating wildebeests grazes through your study plot. What would you need to know to measure their effect on nitrogen balance in the plot?

Step-by-Step Solution

Answer

Mass is always conserved, and thus it cannot be destroyed nor produced. Therefore, one can determine a chemical element's loss or gain at a specific rate within an ecosystem.

To measure the nitrogen content from the given case, the first one should determine the amount of biomass that has been eaten by grazing. The amount of nitrogen in the provided biomass is identified, and the amount of nitrogen deposited by the wildebeest in the form of feces and urine should be known.

Step 1: Ecosystem

An ecosystem is a biological community in which  living organisms interact with the non-living environment for survival. They include all non-living factors from the environment, such as weather, temperature, and water content.

Step 2: Conservation of mass

Conservation of mass defines that mass is always preserved. During any chemical reaction, mass can neither be created like energy nor can it be destroyed. Thus, the mass remains the same and is available in different forms, and is conservative.

Step 3: Experiment with wildebeest

From the given experiment, studying the nitrogen content balance in the plot can be identified by calculating the amount of biomass eaten by the wildebeest. The nitrogenous content in that biomass determines the biological nitrogenous waste excreted by the wildebeest.