Question

Identify the likely organisms (a), (b), (c), (d) in the food web shown above.

A) (a)- dog, (b)-squirrel, (c)- bat. (d)- deer
B) (a)- rat, (b)-dog, (c)- tortoise. (d)- crow
C) (a)- squirrel, (b)-cat, (c)- rat. (d)- pigeon
D) (a)- deer, (b)-rabbit, (c)- frog. (d)- rat

Answer 1

A food web is an interconnected food chain. It is a graphical representation of the interconnected food chain i.e who eats what and is eaten by whom in an ecological community. The food web starts with producers and ends with tertiary consumers.

Complete answer:
To answer this question, we must know about the structure of the food web. The given food web represents the food web in the terrestrial ecosystem. The food web starts with the vegetation/seed which is considered as the producers which produce food.

The producers are being eaten by the herbivores called the primary consumers like mice, grasshopper, sparrow ,etc. (a) is a herbivore which feeds on the producer. It could be rats, deer or squirrels. But (a) is being eaten by the carnivore lion, so the lion feeds on deer. The correct answer for (a) is deer.
(b) is also a herbivore as it feeds on the producer. (b) could be squirrel or rabbit. But (b) is eaten by foxes. So the correct answer for (b) is rabbit. Cat and dog are carnivores which are the secondary consumers.
(c) is a carnivore(secondary consumer) as it feeds on grasshoppers. Rat is a herbivore, a tortoise is also a herbivore.(c) is eaten by snakes so it cannot be batted. so it could be a frog.
(d) is a primary consumer or a herbivore which is being eaten by hawks. So, it could be a rat.

Thus, the correct answer is option ‘D’.

Note: A food web consists of all possible food chains in a single ecosystem. It is important as it explains the interaction among various organisms and also shows the direct and indirect links between them. It also explains the flow of energy in an ecosystem.