Example identifying roles in a food web | Ecology | High school biology | Khan Academy

We are asked who is a secondary consumer in this diagram. So pause this video and see if you can figure that out. All right, now let's work through this together.

So let's just make sure we understand this diagram. When we have an arrow from grasses to mouse, it means that the grasses go into the mouse's mouth. It means that the mouse eats the grasses. Similarly, the grasshopper eats the grasses. Then we have these arrows from the mouse to the coyote, the hawk, the snake, and the vulture. That means that all of these characters may eat the mouse. Likewise, a hawk eats a grasshopper.

So now that we understand this diagram, let's label where these various folks fit in the food chain. The grass is right over here; they are a primary producer. They are using photosynthesis in order to take light energy from the sun, in conjunction with carbon dioxide in the air and water, in order to store energy in its bonds.

Now the grasshopper and the mouse eat that grass for that energy. Since they directly eat that primary producer, they would be primary consumers. And I think you see where this is going. The folks who then eat the primary consumers would be the hawk, the coyote, the vulture, and the snake. These would all be secondary consumers.

We're done. Who is a secondary consumer in this diagram? We could say the coyote is a secondary consumer. The hawk is also a secondary consumer. The vulture is a secondary consumer, and so is the snake.

As you can see, that's okay even in a situation where some secondary consumers eat other secondary consumers. A coyote might eat a hawk, or a vulture might eat a snake. A coyote might eat a vulture, which eats a snake, which might eat a mouse, which eats the grass. But any of these could be considered secondary consumers.