Which of the following constitute a food-chain?

Question

Which of the following constitute a food-chain?

1. A. Grass, wheat and mango
2. B. Grass, goat and human (Correct answer)
3. C. Goat, cow and elephant
4. D. Grass, fish and goat

Correct Answer

Option B — Grass, goat and human

Detailed Solution & Explanation

The correct answer is Grass, goat and human.

Key Points

• A food chain must start with a producer (plant).
• Grass→Goat→Human is a valid grazing food chain.
• The others either have no producer or are incorrectly ordered.

Additional Information

• Every food chain begins with a producer (autotroph) and passes energy through primary consumers (herbivores), secondary and tertiary consumers (carnivores), and finally decomposers.
• Only about 10% of energy passes to the next trophic level — Lindeman's ten per cent law — which is why food chains rarely exceed four or five links.
• The two basic types are the grazing food chain, which starts from living plants, and the detritus food chain, which starts from dead organic matter.
• Interconnected food chains form a food web, which is a more realistic picture of an ecosystem than any single chain.