ECOL100 Case 3- 5 and SLP 3- 5

As we begin to consider some parallels between the business world and the natural world, we can identify some very similar patterns in extinction, adaptation, and supply and demand in both. For example, an organism faces many challenges as it attempts to survive in the natural world, just as a business will struggle to succeed in the marketplace. When resources in the environment are limited, like consumers in the marketplace, organisms and businesses will compete. Those that can maximize their efficiency at production will succeed over those that cannot. Let’s look at how the principles of economics determine  and the role that these costs play in the success of a business. (Complete the production costs tutorial before you proceed).In this tutorial you learned about different types of costs faced by a business. Organisms face similar costs, and require common elements as building blocks: carbon, hydrogen, oxygen, and phosphorus.  are composed primarily of long chains of sugars called They have specialized machinery, chloroplasts, that  using pigments such as , and use it to build sugars in a process called . These sugars are used in many places throughout the plant, both structurally and metabolically.Visit the Missouri Botanical Garden site for more information about the basic structure and function of plants. Read the contents on each link found at the left-hand side of the Web page, paying special attention to the content in “Plant Adaptations.” After you view these resources provided on plant biology, apply the following economic terms to plants for the first part of this Case Assignment:Now apply the questions above to an extinct business: choose either Kodak or Blockbuster. Do some independent research and use the production cost tutorial to address these questions:In the natural world, invasive species commonly displace species of organisms. Provide one example of an invasive species in your region that has imposed new competition to a native species and draw parallels between this example and the extinct business that you chose.You are provided with many scholarly references to complete this assignment. Include a References section that lists these and any additional sources you used (refer to the Background page). For any additional research you are required to do to complete your assignment, please use scholarly references such as a peer-reviewed journal article or a government-sponsored or university-sponsored website. As you read through your sources, take notes from your sources and then write your paper in your own words, describing what you have learned from your research. Direct quotes should be limited and must be designated by quotation marks. Paraphrased ideas must give credit to the original author, for example (Murray, 2014). For this Case Assignment, answer all questions using full sentences and use Part I and Part II as your headings to organize your paper. The length of this assignment should be 2–3 pages.Under each main section, use subtitles to organize your answers to the questions. For example:Short-Run CostsLong-Run CostsCostsCompetition and the Shut-Down DecisionExtinctions: Parallels in the Business World