Question

In an aquatic ecosystem, zooplanktons are represented as
a.Producer
b.Primary consumer
c.Secondary consumer
d.Tertiary consumer
e.Decomposer

Answer 1

Hint: Zooplanktons are the free-floating minute animals. They are heterotrophs and are found in ocean, seas and the freshwater bodies. They are generally microscopic but few are large and visible to the naked eye.

Complete answer:
In an ecosystem, there are some free-floating microorganisms that are mostly unicellular or multicellular and solitary or colonial algae and they are known as phytoplanktons. They are autophytes as they prepare their food from the raw materials and hence, they are regarded as the producer of the ecosystem. The next trophic level of the ecosystem consists of zooplankton and they are the primary consumer of the ecosystem as they are heterotrophs and they feed on producers for their survival. The species that eat zooplankton are known as a secondary consumer, they are small fishes.
The best example of zooplankton feeding on producers is some protists that feed mostly on the bacteria. The zooplankton can grow almost large such as jellyfish, arrow worms etc. The tertiary composer is the species that feed mostly on secondary consumers such as humans. The last trophic level of ecosystem consists of the composer that feeds on the dead animals or the organic matter released by them.
Hence, the correct answer is the primary consumer.

Note: Zooplanktons are the animal element of the planktonic family. It is also known as the disease reservoir as it stores bacteria which causes cholera. They play an important role as they recycle carbon and other nutrients that affect the marine environment.