Question

The primary producer in a food chain is usually
(a) Xerophytic
(b) Heterotrophic
(c) Chemosynthetic
(d) Autotrophic

Answer 1

Hint: These include all the plants and even blue-green algae which prepare their own food by using light, carbon dioxide, water, and other chemicals or minerals in the process of photosynthesis.

Complete step by step answer:
The primary producer in a food chain is usually autotrophic.
At the bottom of the organic phenomenon of the food chain lie the first producers called autotrophs. They are most frequently photosynthetic organisms like plants, algae, or cyanobacteria. The producer is generally an autotroph that can prepare its own food by the process of photosynthesis.

Additional Information:
- For the survival of an ecosystem, the primary producers are vital. They sleep in both aquatic and terrestrial ecosystems and produce carbohydrates necessary for those above within the food chain to survive.
- Since they are small in size and may be vulnerable to changing environmental conditions, ecosystems with more diverse populations of primary producers tend to thrive quite well with homogeneous populations.

- Primary producers reproduce rapidly. This is necessary to sustain life because the species' populations get smaller as you go further up the food chain.
- For example, up to 100,000 pounds of phytoplankton could also be necessary to feed the equivalent of just one pound of a predator species at the highest end of the chain.
- In most cases, primary producers use photosynthesis to make food, so sunlight may be a necessary factor for his or her environment. However, sunlight cannot reach areas deep in caves and within the ocean depths, so some primary producers have adapted so as to survive. Primary producers in those environments use chemosynthesis instead of photosynthesis. The organisms that eat the first producers or the autotrophs are called primary consumers.

So, the correct answer is option (d) i.e., ’‘Autotrophic’.

Note:
- A food chain starts with the producer that prepares its own food from solar energy and converts it into a usable form of energy. These are called autotrophs or primary producers.
- The organisms in the next trophic level that eat the plants are called herbivores or primary consumers.
- The next link within the chain is animals that eat herbivores. These are called secondary consumers and so on.
- The primary producers in the areas deep in the caves and within the ocean depths, use chemosynthesis instead of photosynthesis for the production of their own food.