Question

An example of producer in the aquatic food web would be
A. Duckweed
B. Ducks
C. Fish
D. Insects

Answer 1

Hint: They are also known as water lenses. They keep floating on the surface of water. They synthesize their own energy without needing to eat. Also, they form the lowest trophic level, the base of the aquatic food web.

Complete answer:
Food webs explain who eats whom in an ecological community. It is made up of interconnected food chains. Food webs help us understand how changes to ecosystems — example, removing a top predator or adding nutrients — can affect many different species, both directly and indirectly. Phytoplankton and algae form the bases of aquatic food webs and they are eaten by primary consumers like zooplankton and crustaceans. Primary consumers are in turn eaten by fish, small sharks and corals etc.

Producers
Primary producers — example bacteria and phytoplankton — form the lowest trophic level which is the base of the aquatic food web. Primary producers synthesize their own energy. Many of them photosynthesize using the sun’s energy to synthesize carbohydrates. However, there are some primary producers which can create energy without sunlight using chemosynthesis. They do so to metabolize chemicals released from hydrothermal vents, methane seeps, and other geological features.

In an aquatic ecosystem, producers are aquatic plants. For example, Duckweed is also called water lenses. These are flowering aquatic plants which keep floating on the surface of water. Since these plants can make their food, they are producers in an aquatic food web.

Hence, the correct answer is option (A)

Note: Complex food webs support diverse ecosystems. If one type of prey becomes scarce, a predator might switch to consuming more of another species it eats. However, changes in one part of the food web may affect organisms across multiple trophic levels.