A series of steps in which organisms transfer energy by eating and being eaten describes a

• A. Food Web
• B. Food Chain
• C. Ecological Pyramid
• D. Trophic Cascade

Answer: (B)

Energy moving through organisms in a straight line as one organism eats another is the idea behind a food chain. A food chain lays out a simple sequence: a producer starting the flow of energy, followed by a consumer that eats the producer, then another consumer that eats that consumer, and so on. This shows how energy passes from one organism to the next in a step-by-step way.

The description fits a food chain because it emphasizes that linear transfer of energy through feeding relationships. A food web, by contrast, would show many interconnected chains in an ecosystem, not just a single line. An ecological pyramid illustrates how much energy or biomass sits at each trophic level, not the sequence of who eats whom. A trophic cascade refers to the ripple effects that occur when a predator or other link in the chain is removed or added, changing dynamics across multiple levels rather than detailing the chain itself.

Example: grass → insect → frog → snake → hawk illustrates energy moving from producer to successive consumers in a chain.