A grazing food chain is characterized by a sequence of organisms that primarily consume living plant materials, starting from the producers (plants) and moving up through various levels of consumers.
Let’s evaluate the options:
- a) leaves detritus feeders deer owls – This option includes detritus feeders, which do not fit in a grazing food chain, as they consume dead organic matter rather than living plants.
- b) birds mice snakes – This option lacks a producer and does not represent a grazing food chain since it is more of a predatory sequence without herbivores.
- c) nuts leaf eating insects chipmunks hawks – Similar to the previous option, while this includes herbivores (leaf eating insects), it starts with nuts which do not represent a grazing system.
- d) leaves leaf eating insects mice snakes – This option begins with leaves, which are producers, followed by leaf-eating insects (herbivores), then mice (which may consume insects), and finally snakes (carnivores). This clearly represents a grazing food chain as it shows the consumption of living plant material through various trophic levels.
Therefore, the correct answer is d) leaves leaf eating insects mice snakes, as it accurately illustrates a grazing food chain.