Question

A non-biodegradable toxic chemical has entered into the food chain. Which type of food habit will you suggest to a man, vegetarian or non-vegetarian? Explain with the help of a food chain. The food chain which you would suggest, is advantageous in an another aspect. How?

Answer 1

Vegetarian food chain will be suggested in case of entry of non-biodegradable toxic chemical into the food chain. 

Non-biodegradable chemical gets concentrated at every trophic level by the process of biological magnification. As the concentration increases with the number of trophic level in a food chain, man will get high concentration of the chemical in a non-vegetarian food chain than in a vegetarian food chain, e.g. Vegetarian food chain:

Non-vegetarian food chain:

Vegetarian food chain is advantageous in terms of energy available to man because it has less number of trophic levels. As 90% of energy is lost to the enviornment, at every trophic level, lesser number of trophic levels will result in lesser energy loss.