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Food chains and food webs Knowledge-Based Practice

Biology · Ecology · Biology · Energy Flow & Matter Cycling

5 Biology practice questions on Food chains and food webs. Questions that assess core concepts and understanding.

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Questions

  1. 1.

    Why do food chains in natural ecosystems rarely exceed four or five trophic levels?

    • A) A significant portion of usable energy is lost as heat at each feeding link, leaving insufficient energy to sustain higher levels.
    • B) Top predators have low reproductive rates that prevent them from supporting higher-level consumers.
    • C) Essential mineral nutrients degrade and become toxic as they cycle through successive consumer stages.
    • D) Decomposers rapidly consume apex predator biomass before further predation can take place.
  2. 2.

    In a forest food web, a brown bear feeds directly on blueberries and also consumes trout that feed on herbivorous insects. Which trophic levels does the bear occupy in this ecosystem?

    • A) First and second trophic levels
    • B) Second and third trophic levels
    • C) Third and fourth trophic levels
    • D) Second and fourth trophic levels
  3. 3.

    In a marine food chain consisting of phytoplankton, zooplankton, herring, and pelicans, which organism functions as the secondary consumer?

    • A) Herring
    • B) Zooplankton
    • C) Phytoplankton
    • D) Pelican
  4. 4.

    In a diagram representing a food chain or food web, what does the direction of an arrow connecting two organisms signify?

    • A) The movement of predators actively hunting down their prey in an ecosystem
    • B) The transfer of physical biomass from higher trophic levels down to primary producers
    • C) The directional flow of matter and energy from an organism being consumed to its consumer
    • D) The evolutionary relationship and ancestral lineage shared between the two species
  5. 5.

    What is the primary structural difference between a food chain and a food web in an ecosystem?

    • A) A food chain includes decomposers at every level, whereas a food web completely excludes decomposers.
    • B) A food chain illustrates a single linear pathway of energy transfer, whereas a food web consists of multiple interconnected feeding pathways.
    • C) A food chain represents the total biomass at each trophic level, whereas a food web shows only abiotic chemical cycling.
    • D) A food chain shows energy moving in cyclical loops, whereas a food web shows energy flowing in a strictly unidirectional path.

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