What will happen if one component of the food chain disappears?

Question

food chain

Answer 1

It will get replaced.

For example, bacteria gets sun, produces food---> bigger bacteria eats smaller one---> snail eats bigger bacteria---> fish eats snail ----> shark eats fish----> human eats shark.

If any disappears it will get replaced, as simple as that, eg) human disappears then shark dies, and guess? it gets eaten by bacteria + scavengers.

Now  say if trees die, then there is a problem, however they will also get replaced, some bacteria synthesize food from the sun.

It may take millions of years, but eventually IT WILL GET REPLACED, as long as there is a sun providing energy for us.

In short term, if one component disappears there is a dysfunction in the food chain and some species may starve due to this dysfunction, but likely they will instead find other sources of food.