Food Webs (STAAR released items)

A partial wetland food web is shown. Which statement correctly describes the transfer of energy in a food chain in this wetland?

• Energy is transferred from hawks to shrews to grasshoppers to marsh grasses.

• Energy is transferred from marsh grasses to crickets to hawks to frogs.

• Energy is transferred from grasshoppers to crickets to frogs to hawks.

• Energy is transferred from cattails to crickets to shrews to hawks.

Tags

NGSS.MS-LS2-3

A partial food web from the Texas Piney Woods is shown. How many types of organisms in this food web obtain (get) energy directly from producers?

• Two

• Three

• Four

• Five

Answer explanation

Producers: Water oaks

Animals that obtain (get) their energy (food) from producers (water oaks): Ants, Striped skunks, Mice, Eastern gray squirrels.

4 different organisms get their energy from the water oaks.

Tags

NGSS.MS-LS2-3

NGSS.MS-LS1-6

Many desert animals depend on the prickly pear cactus. What role does the prickly pear cactus play in a desert food web?

• It obtains (gets) energy from producers (plants).

• It returns nutrients to the soil.

• It preys (feeds) upon other organisms.

• It provides energy to consumers (animals).

Answer explanation

The prickly pear is a plant. (producer), not an animal (consumer).

The prickly pear obtains (gets) its energy from the sun and then becomes food for plant-eating animals (consumers).

Tags

NGSS.MS-LS2-3

NGSS.MS-LS2-1

Big Bend National Park is located in the part of the Chihuahuan Desert that is in southwestern Texas. The table below lists some of the types of animals that live in Big Bend and what they eat. Based on the information in the table, which of the following food chains shows one way energy flows in the Big Bend ecosystem?

• Juniper berries -> ornate box turtles -> roadrunners -> rock squirrels

• Grasses -> rock squirrels -> roadrunners

• Cacti -> ornate box turtles -> turkey vultures

• Mesquite beans -> turkey vultures -> roadrunners -> western rattlesnakes

Answer explanation

Ornate box turtles eat cacti. When the turtle dies, it is a "decomposing animal" and is eaten by the turkey vulture.

cacti -> turtle -> vulture

Tags

NGSS.MS-LS2-3

NGSS.MS-LS2-1

A partial food web of a pond ecosystem is shown. Which type of organism is missing from this food web?

• decomposers

• producers (plants)

• predators (hunters)

• consumers (animals)

Answer explanation

Producers (plants) - algae

Consumers (animals) - tadpoles, water beetles, small fishes, frogs, great blue herons

Predators - animals that hunt/eat other animals

Decomposers - mushrooms, fungi, maggots

There are no decomposers in this food web.

Tags

NGSS.MS-LS2-2

A partial forest food web is shown. In this food web, energy is transferred directly between -

• conifer seeds and red crossbills

• conifer leaves and northern goshawks

• blue grouse and wolves

• elk and sharp-shinned hawks

Answer explanation

"transferred directly" means passing from one to the other, without anything else between them.

Conifer seeds are eaten by Red crossbills.

Tags

NGSS.MS-LS2-3

NGSS.MS-LS2-2

A freshwater ecosystem has various food webs. One of these food webs is shown below. Which organisms transfer the most energy within the food web?

• Bass, because they are predators in this web

• Copepods, because they support two chain in this web

• Crayfish, because they are at the bottom of this web

• Algae, because they are the producers in this web

Answer explanation

This food web has a lot of organisms in it. All of the energy in the food web came from the sun. The sunlight (energy) entered the food web by getting absorbed by the plants. The only plants here are the ALGAE. The algae brought ALL the energy into this food web and then it got passed on to other organisms.

Tags

NGSS.MS-LS2-3

A food web for some organisms in an African rain forest is shown. Which organisms in this food web eat only consumers (animals)?

• Okapis

• Civets

• Leopards

• Gorillas

Answer explanation

Okapis eat vines (plants/producers).

Civets eat celery (plant/producer) and grasshoppers (animals/consumers).

Gorillas eat celery (plant/producer).

Leopards eat okapis (animals/consumers) and civets (animals/consumers). Leopards eat only consumers (animals).

Tags

NGSS.MS-LS2-3

Which table shows the correct role of each organism in the food chain?

Algae -> shrimp -> arctic cod -> ringed seals -> polar bears

• 
• 
• 
• 

Tags

NGSS.MS-LS2-3

NGSS.MS-LS2-1

NGSS.MS-LS2-4

In a food chain, energy does NOT flow directly from -

• producer to decomposer

• producer to consumer

• consumer to decomposer

• consumer to producer

Answer explanation

When a producer (plant) dies, it can go to a decomposer.

When a consumer (animal) dies, it can go to a decomposer.

Producers (plants) can be eaten by consumers (animals).

Energy cannot go from a consumer to a producer, because consumers (animals) are not eaten by producers (plants).

Tags

NGSS.MS-LS2-3

NGSS.MS-LS1-6