Question

How can you trace an animal's trophic level on a food web?

Answer 1

Separate a chain from the web, and then see where it falls on the chain.

Explanation:

Looking at a food web. Plants are usually on the bottom of the web. Above them are the primary consumers, that eat only plants. If it eats both plants and animals, it is considered an omnivore.

If an animal eats a primary consumer, then it's a secondary consumer. If it eats a secondary consumer, then the animal is a tertiary consumer. Rarely there can be a quaternary consumer, which eats the tertiary. The top of the food web is referred to as an apex predator.

In the food web above we can see that tadpole is a primary consumer because. The Trout is a secondary consumer because the arrows go from the insects and tadpole to it.

The mink could be viewed as tertiary or secondary. It is a tertiary consumer because it eat the secondary consumer, the trout. But the mink could also be considered a secondary consumer, because it eats the duck.

The muskrat and osprey would be considered apex predators.