Chapter+3+Questions

1. A food web would start with the producers such as desert grasses like esparto grass, or even cactus. Next would be the primary consumers, these would include animals such as gazelles, camels, or wild sheep, or feral water buffalos. After this trophic level comes the Secondary Consumers, in Tunisia these animals could be birds, such as the brown necked raven, ospreys, and long-legged buzzards. Next are the tertiary consumers, like the cobra, horned viper, lions, and coyotes. Then come the omnivores, omnivores found in Tunisia include the fennec fox, wild boar, and of course humans. Detritivores are the last in the food chain and include earth-worms, vultures and the insects like the pill bug and scarab beetle.

2.The net primary productivity has been increasing. Some areas of the country showed a decrease in in climate-adjusted NPP, this happened in the well-watered areas of the country, which is about 8% of the country. About half of this degrading area is scrubland, a third is cropland, and 12% is forest. 9% of the country has shown improvement in climate-adjusted NPP, 7% of this is cropland, 87% is scrub, and 3% is forest.

3. Producers could be desert grasses such as esparto grass, cactus, and the fern undergrowth of the cork oak forest in the mountains. Some of Tunisia's herbivores include many different species of gazelle, camel, whild sheep, feral water buffalos, and tortoises. Carnivores include snakes such as the horned viper, and cobra, there are also lions and coyotes, and many types of birds such as the brown necked raven and long-legged buzzard. Omnivores found in Tunisia are the fennec fox, wild boar, and the humans that live there. Decomposers include many species of fungi and bacteria found in Tunisia like zoosporic fungi. Scavengers include the earth-worm, the egyptian vulture.

4. For the carbon cycle, more Carbon Dioxide has been put into the atomosphere from the burning of fossil fuels. For the hydrologic cycle the clearing of vegetation for cropland in Tunisia can affect the amount of runoff and reduces infiltration. This also happens when roads and buildings are built. With the nitrogen cycle by burning fuel in cars, and plane engines it releases nitric acid into the air. Nitrous oxide is added to the air through fertilizers applied to croplands. Lastly nitrogen is removed from topsoil when crops are harvested or irrigated. The phosphorus cycle is affected when phosphate is removed from earth to make fertilizer. Also soil from crop fields carries phosphates in runoff into lakes and ocean where it increases the growth of producers. With the sulfur cycle

5. Yes, in 1998 Tunisia adopted the National Biodiversity Strategy and Action Plan (NBSAP), the goal of the plan is to conserve Tunisia's biodiversity in its ecosystems. They have been working on restoring many different areas in the country. They are also trying to improve the sustainable use of the biological resources being used in Tunisia. The ecosystems range from forest zones, humid zones, steppes, deserts, and the coastal region of Tunisia. Tunisia has over 3,000 species of plants and over 2,000 different animal species.