Join 60,000+ competitive exam aspirants
or with email
Your Cart
SubtotalтВ╣0
TotalтВ╣0
Examoogle тАв User тАв info@examoogle.com тАв EE-2024-8821
Chapter 1 of 12 тАв Page 1 of 248ЁЯФТ Protected PDF тАв Watermarked
Join 60,000+ competitive exam aspirants
If producers increase in number and herbivores decrease in number, what is the likely sudden consequence in the food chain?
Carnivore population will decrease due to less food.
Producers will decrease due to overgrazing.
Carnivore population will increase.
Decomposers population will decline suddenly.
Carnivore population will decrease due to less food.
In a food chain, energy and biomass flow from producers to herbivores and then to carnivores. A reduction in the herbivore population creates a severe food shortage for carnivores (secondary and tertiary consumers), leading to their immediate population decline due to starvation and lack of energy transfer.
In a food chain, energy and biomass flow from producers to herbivores and then to carnivores. A reduction in the herbivore population creates a severe food shortage for carnivores (secondary and tertiary consumers), leading to their immediate population decline due to starvation and lack of energy transfer.
The 10 Percent Law of energy transfer, proposed by Raymond Lindeman in 1942, states that only 10% of energy is passed to the next trophic level, making food chain stability highly dependent on herbivore availability.
Energy transfer in ecosystems follows the 10 percent law.
Producers form the base of the trophic pyramid as autotrophs.
Carnivores are strictly dependent on herbivores for energy consumption.
The collapse of a intermediate trophic level leads to a 'bottom-up' or 'top-down' cascading effect.
Option B is incorrect because an increase in producers with a decrease in herbivores would lead to an accumulation of producers, not a decrease.
Option C is incorrect as the primary food source (herbivores) for carnivores is depleted, making an increase in carnivores impossible.
Option D is incorrect as decomposers rely on detritus from all trophic levels, and a shift in population does not necessarily trigger an immediate decline in their numbers.
Trophic cascades occur when a change in one level affects the entire ecosystem structure.
A is correct тАФ Carnivore population will decrease due to less food.
Link this concept to Environment and Ecology chapters on 'Biomagnification' and 'Ecosystem Services' often asked in UPSC and SSC exams to understand how pollutant concentration impacts top predators.
Get instant step-by-step AI explanations, full shift Previous Year Papers (SSC GD, RRB, SSC JE), and regional rank analysis on the official Examoogle App.
Free Download тАв 100K+ Aspirants