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Food chain and trophic levels
Concepts tested here
- Trophic levels
All Questions
2011 AIPMT-MAINS 1 question
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Which one of the following animals may occupy more than one trophic level in the same ecosystem at the same time?A trophic level is a functional level, not a species; a given species may occupy more than one trophic level in the same ecosystem at the same time.
NCERT gives the sparrow as the example: it is a primary consumer when it eats seeds, fruits and peas, and a secondary consumer when it eats insects and worms.
A goat is only a herbivore (primary consumer).
A frog feeds on insects and a lion on herbivores, so each is a carnivore at essentially one level.
Hence the sparrow may occupy more than one trophic level.