<h3>
Answer:</h3>
Too many caterpillars
1) Plants would become scarce and rabbits would die out from starvation.
Hawks and snakes are scarce 2) Rabbit and bird populations would grow, making plants and caterpillars scarce.
Too many rabbits 3) Plants would become scarce and caterpillars would die out from starvation.
Sunlight is scarce 4) Plants would not grow, which would starve caterpillars and rabbits, which would then starve the other animals.
Too many snakes 5) Rabbit and birds become scarce.
Birds are scarce
6) Snakes would only eat rabbits, making rabbits scarce.
<h3>
Explanation:</h3>
Too many caterpillars 1) Plants would become scarce and rabbits would die out from starvation.
Plants are the sole food source of both caterpillars and rabbits. Therefore, they are both competing for the same source of food. If there are too many caterpillars, then they will eat more of the plants. This would mean the plants are scarce. As a result, the rabbits now have less food and would die from starvation.
Hawks and snakes are scarce 2) Rabbit and bird populations would grow, making plants and caterpillars scarce.
Hawks and snakes are the two top predators in this food web. They both eat rabbits and birds. If their numbers declined, it would mean there would be no predators that eat rabbits and birds. As a result, the numbers of rabbits and birds would increase. This would have a knock on effect to both plants and caterpillar. Rabbits eat plants, and birds eat caterpillar. If there are more rabbits and birds, then they eat more plants and caterpillar, reducing their numbers and making them scarce.
Too many rabbits 3) Plants would become scarce and caterpillars would die out from starvation.
Rabbits rely on plants as their only food source. Caterpillars also rely on plants as their only food source. If there were too many rabbits, they would eat a lot of plants until the point they became scarce. Since caterpillars also rely on plants as their only food source, they would die of starvation.
Sunlight is scarce
: 4) Plants would not grow, which would starve caterpillars and rabbits, which would then starve the other animals.
Plants rely on sunlight to make their own food by photosynthesis. If there is no sunlight, the plants cannot efficiently make food to grow and reproduce. Therefore, plants would become scarce. Plants are the food source of both rabbits and caterpillars. Therefore, if there were a limited number of plants, rabbits and caterpillars would not have sufficient food, and would die of starvation. Rabbits and caterpillars are the food source of birds, snakes, and hawks, so these animals would also be affected.
Too many snakes: 5) Rabbit and birds become scarce.
Snakes are a top predator that eat rabbits and birds. If there are too many snakes, then they will need to eat more rabbits and birds to attain a sufficient food supply. Therefore, if there are lots of snakes, the numbers of rabbits and birds will reduce and eventually become scarce.
Birds are scarce:
6) Snakes would only eat rabbits, making rabbits scarce
Snakes have two food sources in this web: rabbits and birds. If birds became reduced in numbers, then snakes would only have one food source, rabbits. This would mean that rabbits would be eaten much more by snakes, as this is is their only food source. As a result, rabbit numbers would decline and become scarce.
