What will happen to snakes in the long term if mice become extinct? a. the number of snakes will increase temporarily, and then decrease. b. the number of snakes will decrease permanently, but they will not die out completely. c. the number of snakes will decrease temporarily and then increase. d. snakes will die out if they do not find an alternative food source.

d. Snakes will die out if they do not find an alternative food source.

Explanation:

In the ecosystem, most of the predator species have more than one prey. This ensures availability of food if the population size of one of their prey comes down or becomes extinct.  

Snakes feed in mice. In mice population becomes extinct, snake population size would reduce due to lack of prey population. In the long term, the snakes would have to find some other available prey population to feed on so as to ensure the continuity of their species.