Question

There are two different food chains in this example: 1. Spinach --> goat --> human --> tiger 2. Spinach --> goat --> tiger Analyze whether the tiger is at the same level and whether it obtains the same amount of energy in both the food chains.

Answer 1

It obtains more energy in the chain 1.

Answer 2

Answer:

The tiger is not on the same level and nor receives the same amount of energy in both chains.

Explanation:

As you may already know, a food chain is divided into trophic levels which are: producers, consumers (primary, secondary, tertiary, ...) and decomposers.

The plants are the producers. They absorb solar energy to build nutritious organic molecules that provide a lot of energy. Primary consumers eat these plants and receive all the energy available from them. Secondary consumers eat primary consumers, but receive less energy since the primary consumer used part of the energy they had. Tertiary consumers, in turn, receive even less energy and so on.

In the two food chains, shown in the question above, we can see that the tiger is not on the same level. In the first food chain, the tiger is a tertiary consumer and received a lower level of energy compared to the second food chain, where the tiger is a secondary consumer.