Question

Consider this segment of a food web: Snails and grasshoppers eat pepper plants; spiders eat grasshoppers; shrews eat snails and spiders; owls eat shrews. The shrew occupies the trophic level(s) of _____.
a. primary consumer only
b. secondary consumer only
c. tertiary consumer only
d. primary and secondary consumers
e. secondary and tertiary consumers

Answer 1

Answer:

The correct answer is e. secondary and tertiary consumers

Explanation:

In the given food chain pepper plants are the producer which are consumed by snails and grasshoppers so grasshoppers and snails are primary consumers. Spiders are secondary consumers as they eat primary consumers like grasshoppers.

Shrew eat animals that are primary and secondary consumers like snail and spiders so when shrew eat primary consumers it becomes secondary consumer and when it eats secondary consume like spiders than shrew becomes a tertiary consumer.

Therefore the shrew occupies the trophic level of secondary and tertiary consumers.