Question

How does nitrogen leave a food chain?

A. Primary consumers eat nitrogen-containing green plants.
B. Producers absorb nitrogen-containing nutrients by their roots.
C. Decomposers break down nitrogen-containing waste material from primary consumers.
D. Denitrifying bacteria convert nitrogen-containing nutrients in the soil into atmospheric nitrogen.

Answer 1

Answer: c

Explanation: Plants and animals need nitrogen to make proteins but they cannot take it in from the air. Because nitrogen is unreactive as a gas, it has to be transformed into a new molecule. When bacteria in the soil takes nitrogen from the air, it becomes nitrates. Finally, it can move through the food chain in this form.