Question

Grasses are the dominant producers in the prairie ecosystem. Mice eat the grass seeds, snakes eat the mice, and hawks eat the snakes. Hawks are tertiary consumers.

Remember the 10
percent rule.

How many 500
gram hawks can be supported by 250,000,000
grams of producers?

(1 point)
Responses

5,000
5000

500
500

150,000
150000

50

Answer 1

To determine how many 500-gram hawks can be supported by 250,000,000 grams of producers in a prairie ecosystem, we can use the 10 percent rule.

1. **Calculate the amount of energy available for primary consumers (mice)**:
\[
\text{Energy available for primary consumers} = 10\% \times 250,000,000 \text{ grams} = 25,000,000 \text{ grams}
\]

2. **Calculate the amount of energy available for secondary consumers (snakes)**:
\[
\text{Energy available for secondary consumers} = 10\% \times 25,000,000 \text{ grams} = 2,500,000 \text{ grams}
\]

3. **Calculate the amount of energy available for tertiary consumers (hawks)**:
\[
\text{Energy available for tertiary consumers} = 10\% \times 2,500,000 \text{ grams} = 250,000 \text{ grams}
\]

4. **Calculate how many 500-gram hawks can be supported**:
\[
\text{Number of hawks} = \frac{250,000 \text{ grams}}{500 \text{ grams/hawk}} = 500 \text{ hawks}
\]

Thus, the answer is **500**.