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Recycle Follow up
Quiz by Ma. Angelica R. Oribello
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Singapore, a city-state that imports most of its food from other countries, started experimenting with vertical farming to scale up local food production as early as 2009. Having limited land but a large population, Singapore has expanded upward by building high-rise “farm walls,” which allow plants to grow up, rather than across the land. With a population of 23 million, Taiwan should follow Singapore’s example and develop vertical farming because this farming method can address issues such as limited land, water, and agricultural workers. 2 First, the rainwater-driven rotary system in vertical farms makes better use of land and, therefore, may help deal with the farmland issue in Taiwan. Taiwan has lost a lot of agricultural land to industrial and domestic use. This land issue can be addressed by the rotary system, which allows farmers to move racks of plants—one by one—as high as nine meters up in the air to get enough sunlight. Each vertical farm in Singapore has more than 20 racks of rotating plant-growing containers, providing an efficient way to make the most of limited land space. 3 Second, aside from the efficient use of land, the rotary system helps save water, which can prevent a lack of water during water rationing. Despite the fact that Taiwan has a lot more annual rainfall than the world average, much of it quickly flows down steep mountains into the sea, which makes collecting rainwater difficult. In vertical farms, plants are watered by recycled rainwater precisely where they need to be when the racks are rotated down to the micro-sprinklers. Singapore’s urban farming has proved that this sustainable irrigation method allows plants to be grown with only 5% of the water used in traditional agriculture. 4 Third, the operation of vertical farms relies greatly on machines and thus may ease the problem of having a declining number of agricultural workers. Low pay, long hours, and tough working conditions on traditional farms mean most young people would rather choose other careers, which results in an age gap in agriculture with many more older workers than younger ones. Such a negative impact could be reduced by the highly-computerized work on vertical farms. Mostly operated by machines, the work on vertical farms is lighter. As a result, fewer workers are needed on vertical farms. 5 Given these points, vertical farming appears to be the perfect solution for Taiwan, and we are technologically prepared for this new farming method. One biotechnology company in Taiwan has been working with a Danish partner since 2020, and they have successfully run a vertical farm in Copenhagen. If we can build more vertical farms in Taiwan, many agricultural issues can be dealt with, and city citizens may be able to start growing and harvesting food sustainably at the touch of a button.All animals, most protists, all fungi, and many bacteria are het- erotrophs. Unlike autotrophs, heterotrophs cannot manufacture their own food. Instead, they get energy by eating other organisms or organic wastes. Ecologically speaking, heterotrophs are consumers. They obtain energy by consuming organic molecules made by other organisms. Consumers can be grouped according to the type of food they eat. Herbivores eat producers. An antelope that eats grass is a herbivore. Carnivores eat other consumers. Lions, cobras, and praying mantises are examples of carnivores. Omnivores eat both producers and consumers. The grizzly bear, whose diet ranges from berries to salmon, is an omnivore. Detritivores (dee-TRIET-uh-VAWRZ) are consumers that feed on the “garbage” of an ecosystem. This waste, or detritus, includes organisms that have recently died, fallen leaves, and animal wastes. The vulture shown in Figure 18-8 is a detritivore. Many bacteria and fungi are detritivores that cause decay by breaking down complex molecules into simpler molecules. So, they are specifically called decomposers. Some of the molecules released during decay are absorbed by the decomposers, and some are returned to the soil or water. Decomposers make the nutrients that were contained in detritus available again to the autotrophs in the ecosystem. Thus, the process of decomposition recycles chemical nutrients. Copyright © by Holt, Rinehart and Winston. All rights reserved. 368 CHAPTER 18 ENERGY FLOW When one organism eats another, molecules are metabolized and energy is transferred. As a result, energy flows through an ecosystem, moving from producers to consumers. One way to follow the pattern of energy flow is to group organisms in an ecosystem based on how they obtain energy. An organism’s trophic (TRAHF-ik) level indicates the organism’s position in a sequence of energy transfers. For exam- ple, all producers belong to the first trophic level. Herbivores belong to the second trophic level, and the predators belong to the third level. Most terrestrial ecosystems have only three or four trophic lev- els, whereas marine ecosystems often have more. Food Chains and Food Webs A food chain is a single pathway of feeding relationships among organisms in an ecosystem that results in energy transfer. A food chain may begin with grass, which is a primary producer. The chain may continue with a consumer of grass seeds—a meadow mouse. Next, a carnivorous snake may kill and eat the mouse. A hawk then may eat the snake, as shown in Figure 18-9. The feeding relationships in an ecosystem are usually too com- plex to be represented by a single food chain. Many consumers eat more than one type of food. In addition, more than one species of consumer may feed on the same organism. Many food chains inter- link, and a diagram of the feeding relationships among all the organisms in an ecosystem would resemble a web, as shown in Figure 18-10. For this reason, the interrelated food chains in an ecosystem are called a food web.RECYCLERecycle, Reuse, ConserveRecycle easy 2nd grade 01/22/25RECYCLE IDENTIFIED WASTE MATERIALRecycle TriviaRecycle (CE session 5)