Poaching of the tiger is a burning issue in today's world. What implication would this activity have on the functioning of the ecosystem of which the tigers are an integral part?
Tigers are at the top of the food pyramid in the forest ecosystem and are tertiary consumers. A tertiary consumer helps in checking the uncontrolled population growth of secondary and primary consumers. If all tigers are killed, then no animal will be left to control the population of herbivores. This will result in the quick exhaustion of producers. Finally, in the absence of producers, the herbivores will die because of starvation. This will destroy the whole ecosystem.