Food chains in EarthNectar (flowers) - butterflies - small birds - foxes, dandelions - snails - frog - bird - fox, dead plants - centipede - robin - raccoon, decaying plants - worms - birds - eagles, fruits - tapir - jaguar, fruits - monkeys - monkeys - monkey-eating eagle, grass - antelope - - vulture, grass - cow - man - worm. The food chain describes who eats whom in nature. All living things, from single-celled algae to giant blue whales, need food to survive. Each food chain is a possible route that energy and nutrients can follow through the ecosystem.
For example, grass produces its own food from sunlight. When the fox dies, bacteria break down its body and return it to the soil, where it provides nutrients to plants such as grass. Of course, many different animals eat grass, and rabbits can eat other plants besides grass. Foxes, in turn, can eat many types of animals and plants.
Each of these living beings can be part of multiple food chains. All the interconnected and overlapping food chains of an ecosystem form a food web. Trophic levels Organisms in food chains are grouped into categories called trophic levels. Broadly speaking, these levels are divided into producers (first trophic level), consumers (second, third and fourth trophic levels) and decomposers.
Producers, also known as autotrophs, make their own food. They constitute the first level of every food chain. Autotrophs are usually single-celled plants or organisms. Nearly all autotrophs use a process called photosynthesis to create “food” (a nutrient called glucose) from sunlight, carbon dioxide and water.
Plants are the most familiar type of autotroph, but there are many other types. Algae, whose larger forms are known as seaweed, are autotrophic. Phytoplankton, small organisms that live in the ocean, are also autotrophic. Some types of bacteria are autotrophic.
For example, bacteria that live in active volcanoes use sulfur compounds to produce their own food. This process is called chemosynthesis. The second trophic level is made up of organisms that feed on producers. These are called primary consumers or herbivores.
Deer, turtles, and many types of birds are herbivorous. Tertiary consumers eat secondary consumers. There may be more levels of consumers before a chain finally reaches its main predator. The main predators, also called supreme predators, feed on other consumers.
Consumers can be carnivores (animals that feed on other animals) or omnivores (animals that feed on both plants and animals). Omnivores, like people, consume many types of food. People eat plants, such as vegetables and fruits. We also eat animals and animal products, such as meat, milk and eggs.
We eat mushrooms, like mushrooms. We also eat seaweed in edible seaweed such as nori (used to wrap sushi rolls) and sea lettuce (used in salads). Detritivores and decomposers are the final part of food chains. Detritivores are organisms that feed on the remains of non-living plants and animals.
For example, scavengers, such as vultures, eat dead animals. Dung beetles eat animal feces, decomposers such as fungi and bacteria complete the food chain. They convert organic waste, such as decaying plants, into inorganic materials, such as nutrient-rich soils. Decomposers complete the life cycle and return nutrients to the soil or oceans for use by autotrophs.
This starts a whole new food chain. There can't be too many links in a single food chain because the animals at the end of the chain wouldn't get enough food (and therefore energy) to stay alive. Plants are called producers because they can use light energy from the Sun to produce food (sugar) from carbon dioxide and water. Therefore, the transfer of energy from one trophic level to the next, along the food chain, is like a pyramid; wider at the base and narrower at the top.
About 50% of the energy (possibly up to 90%) in food is lost at each trophic level when an organism is ingested, making it less efficient to be a higher-order consumer than a primary consumer. Most animals are part of more than one food chain and eat more than one type of food to meet their food and energy needs. As you probably know, the organisms at the base of the food chain are photosynthetic; terrestrial plants and the phytoplankton (algae) of the oceans. These decomposers accelerate the decomposition process that returns mineral salts to the food chain for plants to absorb as nutrients.
Food chains Different habitats and ecosystems provide many possible food chains that form a food web. Just as an arc collapses when the cornerstone is removed, an entire food chain can collapse if there is a decline in a key species. For example, a simple food chain links trees and shrubs, giraffes (which feed on trees and shrubs) and lions (which eat giraffes). Because of this inefficiency, there is only enough food for a few high-level consumers, but there are plenty of foods for herbivores that are further down the food chain.
In a marine food chain, single-celled organisms called phytoplankton provide food for small shrimp called krill. Finally, discuss decomposers: bacteria, fungi and worms that feed on decaying matter and their role in the food web. First demonstrate a food chain, a simple interdependence, linking the student with the solar card (the source of all energy), the student with the grass card, the student with the zebra card, the student with the zebra card, the student with the lion card. .
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