Correct answer: (c) Producers are more numerous than primary consumers
Explanation
- A
Primary consumers are least dependent upon producers
Primary consumers (herbivores) depend directly on producers for food. They are not ‘least dependent’ on producers, so this statement is false.
- B
Primary consumers outnumber producers
In a typical terrestrial pyramid of numbers, producers outnumber herbivores. Primary consumers do not outnumber producers in the textbook grassland case this item uses, so (b) is wrong.
- C
Producers are more numerous than primary consumers
Producers are more numerous than primary consumers in the usual ecological pyramid of numbers. Green plants form the broad base; herbivores are fewer. That is the true statement and the official key.
- D
Secondary consumers are the largest and most powerful
Secondary consumers are not always the largest or most powerful organisms; size and trophic level are different ideas, and a pyramid of biomass/energy does not make carnivores ‘largest’. This option is false.
Summary. Official key is (c). A standard pyramid of numbers has more producers than primary consumers. Herbivores depend on producers; they do not outnumber them in that model.