Question

In a food chain, grasshoppers are eaten by frogs which in turn are eaten by snakes. Which trophic level does a snake belong to?
A. Primary consumer
B. Secondary consumer
C. Producer
D. Tertiary consumer
E. Decomposer

Answer 1

Hint: Food chain is referred to the transfer of matter and energy in the form of food from organism to organism. A food chain is a descriptive diagram that includes a series of arrows, each pointing from one species to another, representing the flow of food energy from one feeding group of organisms to another.

Complete answer: In order to find the most suitable answer to this question, we need to have a detailed idea of what a food chain is and what it consists of, i.e. the different trophic levels. In simple words, a food chain can be described as the flow of energy from one trophic level to the other in an ecosystem. A trophic level is referred to as the position that an organism occupies in a food chain. Producers, i.e., the green plants occupy the first trophic level, primary consumers are present at the second trophic level, and so on.
Let us consider the food chain given in the question.

Here, plants are the producers and occupy the first trophic level. Grasshoppers that feed on these plants are said to be the primary consumers and it is occupying the second trophic level. Grasshoppers in turn are eaten by frogs, which is occupying the third trophic level. Frogs here are termed as secondary consumers. Frogs are in turn being eaten up by snakes, which is occupying the fourth trophic level. So, snakes are termed as tertiary consumers.
So, the correct option is D.

Note: We might have also noticed that there are some organisms that depend on more than just one organism for food, i.e., they eat more than just one organism. This type of food chain results in the formation of a food web, where more organisms are involved. It is more complex in nature.