Question

8 points

Look at the food web. In your response, answer the following questions
correctly for full credit: a) Identify the producers, primary consumers, and
secondary consumers in the ecosystem. b) What would happen if all the
hawks in this ecosystem were to die from an illness? c) Why would you
expect there to be fewer foxes than caterpillars in this ecosystem? d)
Which organism would have the smallest population? (8 points)

Answer 1

A) Grass and ferns are the producer. Rabbits, Grasshoppers and caterpillars are the primary consumers. The robin, foxes and hawks are the secondary consumers.

B) If the hawks died, the rabbits and foxes would over-populate the area. The rabbits would over graze the ferns and make it harder for the caterpillars to feed. The foxes would over graze on the robins, potentially wiping them out. This would allow the grasshopper to grow out-of-control leading to the loss of the second food source for the caterpillars. Eventually, the ecosystem would crash.

C) The higher up the food pyramid you go, the smaller the population has to be. Foxes are higher up than caterpillars so they have to have a smaller population.

D) The hawk has to be the smallest population.

Step-by-step explanation:

Answer 2

A) Grass and ferns are the producer. Rabbits, Grasshoppers and caterpillars are the primary consumers. The robin, foxes and hawks are the secondary consumers. B) If the hawks died, the rabbits and foxes would over-populate the area. The rabbits would over graze the ferns and make it harder for the caterpillars to feed. The foxes would over graze on the robins, potentially wiping them out. This would allow the grasshopper to grow out-of-control leading to the loss of the second food source for the caterpillars. Eventually, the ecosystem would crash. C) The higher up the food pyramid you go, the smaller the population has to be. Foxes are higher up than caterpillars so they have to have a smaller population. D) The hawks has to have the smallest population.