Consider the following food chain:

garden plants are eaten by snails, which are eaten by birds, which are eaten by the household cat.

what happens to the other members of the food chain if the cat is removed?
a.
the number of plants, snails, and birds increase.
b.
the number of plants and snails increase and the number of birds decreases
c.
the number of plants increases and the number of snails and birds decrease.
d.
the number of plants and birds increase and the number of snails decreases.

The correct answer would be d. The number of plants and birds increase and the number of snails decreases.

If cats are removed from this food chain, it will eventually lead to an increase in the population of birds as they are not being killed or eaten by other organisms.

Increased number of birds will need more and more snails to feed upon and thus due to over-predation the number of snails would decrease.

The decrease in the number of snails will have a positive effect on the number of garden plants.

The answer is D. By reducing the number of household cats, the population of birds increases because they are less preyed on. When the bird’s population increases, they put pressure on the snail population through predation, This decreases the snail population. Subsequently, a decrease in snail population eases pressure on plants hence plant population increases.