With my promotion this month I will continue my steady journey to the top of the food chain.
linear scheme of feeding relationships, which unites members of a biological community The number of stages in a chain does not usually exceed five, and usually involve plants, herbivores and one or two successive sets of predators
The way in which food passes through living systems - usually by organisms eating each other Many poisonous substances (pesticides, industrial by-products etc ) don't break down as they pass through the food chain, but accumulate until, near the top of the chain, they reach toxic concentrations
The transfer of food energy through a series of organisms, beginning with the consumption of green plants (producers) by herbivores (plant eaters), and later consumption of the herbivores by carnivores (meat eaters)
A linear sequence of organisms that exist on successive trophic levels within a natural community, through which energy is transferred by feeding Primary producers capture energy from the environment (through photo- or chemosynthesis) and form the base of the food chain Energy is then passed to primary consumers (herbivores ) and on to secondary and tertiary consumers (carnivores and top carnivores) (e g phytoplankton ® zooplankton ® herring ® salmon ® killer whales) Once they die, these organisms are in turn consumed and their energy transferred to detrivores and decomposers
A series of plants or animals linked together by their food relationships or a specific nutrient and energy pathway see Food web Fauna Ref AC
Series of organisms, each eating or decomposing the preceding one A simple example of a food chain is one in which a red-tailed hawk eats an eastern phoebe, which has eaten a great number of insects that lived in streams, which have all eaten stream algae
(ecology) a community of organisms where each member is eaten in turn by another member
A series of nutritional steps that pass energy through an ecosystem through a series of organisms, starting with plants Organisms low on the food chain are eaten by the organism on the next level The chain ends with predators Pollutants that enter the food chain can pass up the chain, bioaccumulating in the tissues and organs of animals at the top of the chain
Transfers of matter and energy in the form of food between living organisms within an environment
The passage of energy (in the form of food) from producers to the organisms that feed upon them The number of links in a food chain varies (from producer to top predator), but seldom exceeds five Most communities contain food webs, i e , food chains that are interlinked
The food chain is a series of living things which are linked to each other because each thing feeds on the one next to it in the series. The whole food chain is affected by the over use of chemicals in agriculture. all animals and plants considered as a group in which a plant is eaten by an insect or animal, which is then eaten by another animal and so on. Sequence of transfer of matter and energy from organism to organism in the form of food. These interconnected feeding relationships intertwine locally into a food web because most organisms consume or are consumed by more than one other type of organism. Plants and other photosynthetic organisms (such as phytoplankton), which convert solar energy to food, are the primary food source. In a predator chain, a plant-eating animal is eaten by a larger animal. In a parasite chain (see parasitism), a smaller organism consumes part of a larger host and may itself be parasitized by even smaller organisms. In a saprophytic chain, microorganisms live on dead organic matter. Because energy, in the form of heat, is lost at each step, or trophic level, chains do not normally encompass more than four or five trophic levels
Movement of energy through the trophic levels of organisms In most ecosystems, this process begins with photosynthetic autotrophs (plants) and ends with carnivores and detritivores
A sequence of organisms, each of which uses the next lower member of the sequence as a food source (Source: Carbon Dioxide Information Analysis Center, 1990)
the transfer of food energy from the source in plants through a series of animals, with repeated eating and being eaten Any one species is usually represented in several or many food chains
a series of organisms in which each uses the next, usually the lower member of the series, as a food source
A chain of organisms along which energy , in the form of food passes An organism feeds on the preceding link and is in turn prey for the suceeing link
- movement of energy and nutrients from one feeding group of organisms to another in a series that begins with plants and ends with carnivores, detrital feeders and decomposers
A sequence of organisms in an ecosystem in which each member feeds on the member below it
A number of organisms forming a series through which energy is passed At the base of the chain (the producer, or first trophic level) there is always a green plant or other autotrophy that traps energy, almost always from light, and produces food substances, thereby making energy available for the other (consumer) levels Any natural community will have many interlinked food chains that make up a food web or food cycle