Question

Which one of the following correctly represents a food chain?
A) Grass-Grasshopper-Frog-Snake-Eagle
B) Grass-Grasshopper-Eagle-Snake-Frog
C) Grass-Eagle-Frog-Snake-Grasshopper
D) Grass-Snake-Frog-Eagle-Grasshopper

Answer 1

Hint: A food chain describes which organisms in the environment eat which other organisms. The food chain is a sequential sequence of organisms in which nutrients and energy are transferred from one to the next. This happens when one organism consumes another. It starts with the producer organism, moves down the chain, and ends with the decomposer organism. Understanding the food chain enables us to see how one organism is dependent on another for survival.

Complete answer:
A food chain is the sequence of events in an ecosystem in which one living organism consumes another, and that organism is then consumed by another larger organism. A food chain is formed by the flow of
nutrients and energy from one organism to another at different trophic levels.

The food chain also explains how living organisms feed or interact with one another. The trophic level refers to the sequential stages of a food chain, beginning with producers at the bottom and progressing to primary, secondary, and tertiary consumers. Every level of a food chain is referred to as a trophic level.

The food chain starts with a producer and ends with a primary consumer. The primary consumer may be eaten by a secondary consumer, who may then be eaten by a tertiary consumer. A food chain, for example, could begin with a green plant as the producer, which is then consumed by a snail, the primary consumer. The snail may then become prey to a secondary consumer, such as a frog, which may then be eaten by a tertiary consumer, such as a snake.

In the above example, Grass-Grasshopper-Frog-Snake-Eagle is the correct option.
Consumers in a food chain are divided into three categories: primary consumers, secondary consumers, and tertiary consumers. The grasshopper is the primary consumer, feeding on the producers' grass. Frogs are secondary consumers.

The snake is a tertiary consumer, and the eagle is the final consumer. According to the ten percent law, at each trophic level, exactly 90% of the energy is lost in the transfer, with only 10% being passed on as usable biological energy. In this case, the frog has more energy than the tertiary consumer but less energy than the primary consumer.

Thus, Grass-Grasshopper-Frog-Snake-Eagle correctly represents a food chain. Therefore the correct answer is option ‘A’.

Note: Food chains are trophic energy pathways or, more accurately, sequences of links that begin with basal species, such as producers or fine organic matter, and end with consumer organisms. Ecological modelling frequently employs food chains (such as a three-species food chain). They are simplified abstractions of real food webs, but their dynamics and mathematical implications are complex.