Question

Identify the missing organisms - (1), (2), (3) and (4) in the following food web and select the correct option.

	(1)	(2)	(3)	(4)
(i)	Deer	Rabbit	Frog	Rat
(ii)	Dog	Squirrel	Bat	Frog
(iii)	Rat	Eagle	Tortoise	Crow
(iv)	Squirrel	Cat	Peacock	Pigeon

• A. (i)
• B. (iii)
• C. (iv)
• D. (ii)

Answer 1

Answer: (A)

FOOD WEB:
DFC may be connected with GFC chains at some levels. Some of the organisms of DFC are prey to the GFC animals.
• In the ecosystem, linear food chains, as shown above, seldom exists, because every organism has an alternate source of food. An animal may have a preference for a particular prey, but if the latter has a small population, it may feed upon some other prey. A single animal may be eaten by different animals, and thus different food chains get interconnected, and one animal may be a link in more than one food chain.
• The network of interconnected food chains at different trophic levels in a biotic community is termed food web, or Interlinking of two or more food chains called a food web.
• Occurrence of food webs provides stability to the ecosystem. Food webs operate because of taste preference for particular food or unavailability of food. One animal may feed upon an organism of even different trophic level like - Snakes may feed upon mice (herbivore) and frogs (carnivore), jackals are both carnivores and scavengers. Sparrow is a primary consumer when it eats seeds, fruits etc. and a secondary consumer when it eats insects and worms.