Question

The basic minimum number of components required for any ecosystem to survive

• A. Producer and primary consumer
• B. Producer and decomposer
• C. Primary consumer and decomposer
• D. Primary and secondary consumer
• E. Producer and secondary consumer

Answer 1

The correct option is B Producer and decomposer

Producers or autotrophs are organisms, that make their own organic material from simple inorganic substances. For most of the biosphere the main producers are photosynthetic plants and algae, that synthesis glucose from carbon dioxide and and water. It is this biomass that provides the total energy available to all non photosynthesizing organisms in the ecosystem.

Decomposers are the waste managers of any ecosystem. They are the final link in a food web breaking down dead organic matter from producers and consumers and ultimately returning energy to the atmosphere in respiration and inorganic molecules back to the soil during decomposition. Hence, the correct answer is option B.