Question

Given below is a list of autotrophs and heterotrophs. With your knowledge about the food chain, establish various linkages between the organisms on the principle of ‘eating and being eaten’. What is this inter-linkage established known as? Algae, hydrilla, grasshopper, rat, squirrel, crow, maize plant, deer, rabbit, lizard, wolf, snake, peacock, phytoplankton, crustaceans, whale, tiger, lion, sparrow, duck, crane, cockroach, spider, toad, fish, leopard, elephant, goat, Nymphaea, Spirogyra.

Answer 1

Food chains and food web:

● The food chain is a linear sequence of organisms through which nutrients and energy pass, as one organism, eats the other. The trophic levels are the nutritional status or positions of the organisms in the food chain. The food chain with four trophic levels is represented as follows:-

Producers (trophic level 1) $\to$ Primary consumers (trophic level 2) $\to$ Secondary consumers (trophic level 3) $\to$ Tertiary consumers (trophic level 4)

● The Food web is a network of food chains that ensures an alternate food source for each organism.

Food chains of the given organisms:

Primary Producers (Trophic level I): Algae, Hydrilla, a maize plant, Phytoplankton, Nymphaea, Spirogyra.

Primary Consumer (Trophic level II): Crustaceans, deer, squirrel, rabbit, elephant, goat, grasshopper, rat, peacock, sparrow, crow.

Secondary Consumer (Trophic level III): Spider, lizard, wolf, snake, toad, fish, cockroach, crane, whale, duck.

Top carnivore (Trophic level IV): Lion, tiger, leopard. They are the topmost carnivores.