Food Chain: Practice Questions

Consider the following food chain: \( \text{Seaweed} \rightarrow \text{Sea Urchin} \rightarrow \text{Sea Otter} \rightarrow \text{Shark} \). Which organism is the predator of the Sea Urchin?

A healthy green plant is provided with plenty of water and air but is kept in a completely dark cupboard for two weeks. Why will the plant eventually stop growing?

In a field ecosystem, Owls hunt Mice, and the Mice eat Grains. If a disease kills off most of the Owl population, what is the most likely long-term effect on the Grains?

When a caterpillar eats a leaf, what is the most important thing the caterpillar is gaining from the leaf to help it grow and move?

In the food chain: \( \text{Corn} \rightarrow \text{Mouse} \rightarrow \text{Owl} \), which organism acts as the secondary consumer?

In a food chain, what does the arrow \( \rightarrow \) pointing from one organism to another represent?

Aside from growth, name two other life processes that a consumer must use the energy obtained from its food to perform.

In terms of energy transfer, why does a snake receive less energy from eating a mouse that has been very active (running and escaping predators) compared to a mouse that has been resting?

Study the following food chain found in a grassland ecosystem:
Grass \( \rightarrow \) Grasshopper \( \rightarrow \) Frog \( \rightarrow \) Snake

(a) Which organism in this food chain is the producer?
(b) Name any one consumer shown in this food chain.
(c) Which organism is the predator of the grasshopper?
(d) What does the arrow (\( \rightarrow \)) in this food chain represent?

In many ecosystems, scavengers (like vultures) and decomposers (like fungi) both deal with dead organic matter.
a) Explain the primary difference in how they obtain nutrients. (2 points)
b) If decomposers were removed from a food chain, explain why the producers would eventually stop growing, even with plenty of sunlight. (2 points)