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You are here: Home / Open Threads / Quick Question

Quick Question

by John Cole|  October 15, 20052:09 pm| 36 Comments

This post is in: Open Threads

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What one food source is the single most important item to its region? And think the entire ecosystem.

For example- the date palm in the middle east, or pacific salmon, etc.

Just curious. There is no right answer-well, there may be a ‘right’ answer, but I don’t know what it is.

*** Update ***

I don’t mean what is most important to humans. I mean the regional ecosystem. If there were no more slamon, humans would get by, but it would devastate certain ecosystems. Same with date palms. Things like that are what I meant.

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Reader Interactions

36Comments

  1. 1.

    Paddy O'Shea

    October 15, 2005 at 2:25 pm

    It all depends on the day of the week, John. As it is Saturday and I am stuck at home with the kids while the missus is at work, that food would be pizza. It pacifies the little beasts, which is a great relief to their father.

  2. 2.

    Jesse

    October 15, 2005 at 2:32 pm

    It’s gotta be rice in Asian countries

  3. 3.

    Big Al

    October 15, 2005 at 2:35 pm

    cereal grains

  4. 4.

    DougJ

    October 15, 2005 at 2:36 pm

    Pork in Washington, DC

  5. 5.

    Off Colfax

    October 15, 2005 at 2:45 pm

    Throughout the ocean: Krill.Those little buggers die off, about half the oceanic food chain gets disrupted.

    And guys, he said “ecosystem” up there. While rice and cereal grains are of vast importance to us humans, they don’t do much for the rest of the critters in the ecosystem. Well, with the exception of the parts that are directly dependent on us, that is.

  6. 6.

    Bubba

    October 15, 2005 at 2:45 pm

    Well, there’s grilled shrimp, boiled shrimp, fried shrimp, shrimp gumbo, shrimp salad, shrimp omelette, shrimp creole, shrimp scampi, shrimp newburg, shrimp louie ….

  7. 7.

    Kimmitt

    October 15, 2005 at 2:48 pm

    Corn in Mexico?

  8. 8.

    Veeshir

    October 15, 2005 at 2:56 pm

    I think Off Colfax has it.
    From what I remember, krill basically is at or very near the bottom of the entire food-chain so it feeds us all.

    If you’re only counting humans, chocolate. It makes women happy and that’s good for everybody.

  9. 9.

    vinc

    October 15, 2005 at 3:07 pm

    Krill eat phytoplankton, so those are the real base. Also, phytoplankton are responsible for the oxygen in our atmosphere. But both krill and plankton contain multiple species so it might not count.

    For humans, definitely rice, which is the primary food source for over half the world’s population.

  10. 10.

    srv

    October 15, 2005 at 3:27 pm

    Outside of plankton, most land-based ecosystems are too complex to reduce to a single food source. That’s why they’re ‘systems’.

  11. 11.

    KC

    October 15, 2005 at 3:34 pm

    Almonds and grapes in California, at least with respect to industry.

  12. 12.

    Captain O

    October 15, 2005 at 3:47 pm

    As far as humans go, the most widely consumed food in the world is rice.

  13. 13.

    Ancient Purple

    October 15, 2005 at 4:03 pm

    That’s a tough one.

    I would say that for Phoenix and the rest of central Arizona, the choices would be citrus and beef.

    Although demographics and such have changed, I still see those two as basic staples for Arizona diets, and are here in abundant supply.

    As a bit of trivia, Arizona was always defined by the 5 “C’s”: Copper, Climate, Cattle, Citrus and Cotton.

  14. 14.

    Dusty

    October 15, 2005 at 4:56 pm

    I’d read somewhere once that flies were consider the “Angels of Life” (or something like that) for, without them, we would be up to our necks in shit.

    I’ve been nice to flies ever since.

  15. 15.

    nyrev

    October 15, 2005 at 5:06 pm

    The sun. Take out photosynthesis and the whole food chain goes pfft.

  16. 16.

    Dusty

    October 15, 2005 at 5:08 pm

    I should have clarified myself. Shit is the most important food source. Some may consider this circular reasoning but I don’t think sustaining an ecosystem should be viewed as a linear process.

  17. 17.

    scs

    October 15, 2005 at 5:09 pm

    Not that this totally relates, but if a human could eat only one or two food for the rest of their life, what would it be? (To keep them at their healthiest.) I’m thinking milk and oranges.

  18. 18.

    scs

    October 15, 2005 at 5:09 pm

    Yeah probably earthworms and maggot.

  19. 19.

    Tim F

    October 15, 2005 at 5:51 pm

    vinc said it before I could. Coral reefs also hinge on the photosynthetic algae which live inside the little coral animals.

    Krill would be a good example for the southern oceans because while the food chain starts with algae, you can’t really change the abundance of algae. If one species dies back another species will take its place. Broad changes in nutrient distribution would do it, but that’s not what John is getting at. One could imagine impacting the abundance of krill, which would absolutely devastate the southern ocean ecosystems.

    I think that’s what John had in mind – not the diverse and robust community at the base of the ecosystem but larger, single species which could theoretically go away.

  20. 20.

    Ron Beasley

    October 15, 2005 at 6:17 pm

    Grass or grasses on land nearly everywhere, in the sea probably krill.

  21. 21.

    Jimmy Jazz

    October 15, 2005 at 6:25 pm

    Oil pipelines and McMansions trump them all!

  22. 22.

    bullwinkle

    October 15, 2005 at 8:03 pm

    Seals in the arctic.

  23. 23.

    jg

    October 15, 2005 at 8:52 pm

    donuts

  24. 24.

    Bob Munck

    October 15, 2005 at 9:42 pm

    nyrev got it: sunlight. Except in Korea, where it’s Spam.

  25. 25.

    Horshu

    October 15, 2005 at 9:59 pm

    I’d go with grass. Grass feeds the farm animals, and those like goats and cows provide both meat and milk. All in all, rice is probably most important, but going down the food chain, grass feeds a whole lot of the high protein/fat sources of food in inland areas.

  26. 26.

    Sinequanon

    October 15, 2005 at 10:30 pm

    This may seem simplistic…

    All ecosystems and foods require water to exist, there for water is the most important element. We are mostly water ourselves.

  27. 27.

    Mac Buckets

    October 16, 2005 at 1:47 am

    Triangle! Sorry, what was the question again?

  28. 28.

    Ancient Purple

    October 16, 2005 at 4:12 am

    Following up to your updated question, John, the answer for Phoenix and the Arizona desert would be the Prickly Pear Cactus. If this edible cactus fruit vanished, the consequences would be dramatic because of the reliance on this by birds, insects, and other plants.

    Just my $0.02.

  29. 29.

    Geek, Esq.

    October 16, 2005 at 6:50 am

    Dirt, if you count plant food.

  30. 30.

    airmail

    October 16, 2005 at 10:17 am

    Mmmm, Yeti

  31. 31.

    Zifnab

    October 16, 2005 at 12:22 pm

    If krill are the most vital in the seabased ecosystem, is there some sort of bacteria or fungus we’re overlooking on land? Perhaps dead animal/plant carcasses are the most important because they refertalize the soil. Or lightning strikes – they return nitrogen to the earth.

    If you have a choice between heaven and pie heaven, choose pie heaven. Because it may be a trick, but if not… Mmmmm pie.

  32. 32.

    rose

    October 16, 2005 at 3:06 pm

    Sunlight is the food source for plant life. Grasses provide for herbivores on land, planktons in water.
    Fire(the sun) Earth Air Water. Remove any one and the earth dies.

  33. 33.

    Stormy70

    October 16, 2005 at 3:28 pm

    I can’t live without Mexican food. Does this count?

  34. 34.

    Jack Roy

    October 17, 2005 at 1:38 pm

    Atlantic Ocean plankton?

  35. 35.

    jobiuspublius

    October 17, 2005 at 3:35 pm

    At the bottom of the oceans there exist gas and lava vents. There exists single celled life that eat the sulfur coming out of those vents. Similar life forms can be found in terrestrial caves. To the best of my knowledge, these life forms are not dependant on sun light, at least, not directly.

  36. 36.

    jobiuspublius

    October 17, 2005 at 3:38 pm

    Washington D.C.: Money. ;)
    Business: Money.
    …

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