In our experiment the caterpillars were fed on a diet of whe

In our experiment, the caterpillars were fed on a diet of wheat germ. How do you think the various efficiencies would have changed if we had fed them on a more natural diet of tobacco leaves? Why might they have changed in these ways? The temperatures in our study were probably lower than those the caterpillars normally experience in their normal summer growing season. Predict how each efficiency (deal with each separately) might have changed if the temperature had been higher and give reasons for your predictions. (Remember that the caterpillars are ectothermic). Explain what these calculations mean for food webs. Why does it matter how much a predator eats, excretes, assimilates, etc.? Put this study into a greater context. This will require readings from the textbook and, most likely, the peer-reviewed scientific literature. Make sure to cite the sources of information you use to answer this question.

Solution

Ques-5: Based on the given data, in this experiment, we are using Manduca sexta (tobacco hornworm larva). This larva would grow more efficiently in tobacco than the wheat germ, because they can digest and metabolize the tobacco leaves than wheat leaves. so that, the consumption efficiency (%) of tobacco leaves for M sexta is higher compared to the wheat germ whereas assimilation efficiency (%) is also higher for those caterpillars which are going to assimilate tobacco leaves more faster rate than wheat germ so that the final production of silk is higher and trophic level transfer efficiency (%) is also higher. These are because of higher rate of the consumption of food mass so that they gain high weight by assimilating the food mass finally excrete the waste at higher rate