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Nature & science · Age 11 · Quarter 3 – Advanced Ecology

Removing a Top Predator: Trophic Cascades

Predict what happens to a food web when a top predator is removed.

Module

Quarter 3 – Advanced Ecology

Age

Age 11

Duration

10 min

Questions

5

What's in this exercise

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  1. Question 1

    Multiple choice

    What is a 'trophic cascade'?

  2. Question 2

    Multiple choice

    When wolves were removed from Yellowstone, elk populations grew and overgrazed river banks. What happened next?

  3. Question 3

    Multiple choice

    When wolves were reintroduced to Yellowstone in 1995, what unexpected effect was observed?

  4. Question 4

    True or false

    A keystone species is one whose removal would cause major changes to the structure of an ecosystem.

  5. Question 5

    Matching

    Match each change in a food web to its likely knock-on effect.

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Back to Quarter 3 – Advanced Ecology for 11-year-olds