The correct answer is B. A food web typically start with a plant which serves as the primary producer of food for the other living organisms that are in the food web. The food web is made up of many tropic level, only about 10% of the energy in one tropic level is transferred to the next trophic level. Looking at option B, you will discover that the food web start with a plant which is mangrove. Insects feed on mangrove, southern leopard frog feed on insects and raccoon feed on American alligator.
Answer: b) Mangrove → insects → Southern leopard frog → raccoon → American alligator; about 10 percent of the energy in one trophic level is transferred to the next trophic level.
A food chain is a linear sequence of transfer of food and energy, when one organism is consumed by another organism in an ecosystem. A food web is an interconnection of food chains. The energy being transferred among the organisms is relative to energy pyramid, depicting the trophic levels. The energy in each subsequent trophic level is lost by 10%, when the biomass in the form of organisms being consumed from lower to higher trophic levels.
Therefore, Mangrove → insects → Southern leopard frog → raccoon → American alligator; about 10 percent of the energy in one trophic level is transferred to the next trophic level is an appropriate in defining the flow of energy in the Everglades food web.
