Question

List the common food chain in a pond ecosystem.

Answer 1

Hint: Every organism whether large or small plays a significant role in the food chain or web of the ecosystem. They are crucial in maintaining balance at a particular level of the ecological pyramid.

Complete answer: The food chain structure is based on both small and large animals. The balance in the ecosystem is maintained by the number of small animals present at a particular trophic level because large organisms feed on small organisms. They play a vital role in the ecosystem because the whole ecosystem gets shattered if the number of small animals is less and therefore, at a particular trophic level, if a species gets extinct, it will have a cascading effect throughout the ecosystem and will result in an imbalance in the food chain. It can also lead to the extinction of other species that feed on the extinct species. In a pond, which is a freshwater aquatic ecosystem, organisms include algae, insects, larvae, freshwater animals, small and big fishes, and fish-eating birds and animals. The most common example of a food chain in a pond ecosystem is:
Aquatic plants or phytoplanktons Small aquatic organisms larvae or insects fish birds

Note: Even the small organisms form a part of the food chain or food web. At each trophic level in a food chain, only 10 percent of the energy is transferred to the successive trophic levels, while the remaining 90 percent is lost in the form of heat.