Numericals - 3

1. Based on a study, of the individual species of intertidal isopod (ldotea baltica) were
sampled over the average lifetime of 415 days for males and 374 days for the females.
The survey showed that the energy ingested by the males and females were respectively
2559.4 I and 2528.4 joules. In the process of metabolism the males require 959.2 J
whereas 673.7 Joules is required by the females. The males and females further utilize
24.5% and 16.1%o of the ingested energy for growth/reproduction and 35.2 J and24.7 J
respectively are spent as non-faecal excretion. In addition, 5.2% and 2.4% of ingested
energy is lost due to ecdysis (the process of moulting of the cuticula in "many
invertebrates). With this given information, estimate the percentage of total assimilated
energy by the intertidal isopod species.
2. A survey on different species of birds revealed that the body mass of light birds weighing
10 gms has a daily energy expenditure of 10.3 kcal/day and a basal metabolic rate of 4.5
kcal/day, whereas for heavier birds weighing about 4 kg it about 500
kcal/day and 100 kcal/day respectively. Determine the exponent for both cases and give
your inference of the relation between daily energy expenditure and basal metabolic rate
in relation to size of the birds.
3. Your stomach is a chemical reactor. When you devour a fast food special hamburger in
about a minute, it acts like an instantaneous input of 325 gms of fast food entering the
stomach. In response the stomach starts producing gastric liquids (acids), which are
continuously excreted into the stomach at a rate of l2 mL/min as the hamburger is
digested. The fluid also leaves the stomach to the small intestine at a flow rate of 12
mL/min, so the volume of liquid in the stomach stays constant at 1.15 L, the hamburger
digestion rate is 1.33 per hour. What fraction of the hamburger's mass will remain
undigested in your stomach one hour after you eat the ham burger?
4. In a large island which became infested with stray dogs, there was an immunization drive
by the local municipal corporation to vaccinate as many dogs in the area. In spite of their
efforts they were able to catch only 70 dogs in the area. After vaccination, the dogs were
collared and released so as to be easily identified later on. However, the local residents
were very unhappy as they felt all the dogs should have been vaccinated. This prompted
an NGO in the locality to carry out a population count drive within a week of the
vaccination drive. For this they set up a dog shelter in a building capable housing 200 dogs.
Within a day, the sheltering capacity in the building was reached. They were in a fix of
what to do next. The NGO however had an ecologist, who said that by just checking the
number of collared dogs in this population one can estimate the population count of the
island using the Lincoln index method. They allowed him to carry out the exercise and it
was found that 28 dogs were collared in this population. Estimate the population and
state how the ecologist convinced the NGO about his estimation keeping in mind the
constraints required for this.