Circle of life
- POSTED ON: 29 Aug, 2023
- TOTAL VIEWS: 2290 Views
- POSTED BY: Madhuvanti S. Krishnan
- ARTICLE POINTS: 150 Points
A food chain refers to events of a certain order that occur in an ecosystem, where one living organism eats another organism, which, in turn, is consumed by a larger organism. The flow of nutrients and energy from one organism to another, at different trophic levels, forms a food chain. Trophic level refers to the stages of sequence in a food chain, beginning with producers at the bottom, followed by primary, secondary and tertiary consumers. In other words, every level in a food chain is known as a trophic level. A food chain primarily comprises:
The Sun: The initial source of energy for everything on the planet.
Producers: The first stage of the food chain, plants, algae, autotrophs (organisms that make their own food) like the phytoplankton, are referred to as the producers. They make use the sun’s energy to make food.
Consumers: All organisms that depend on plants or other organisms for food form the consumers, and it is the largest part of a food web, as it contains almost all living organisms. It includes herbivores, carnivores, parasites, and scavengers. Here, herbivores are known as primary consumers and carnivores, secondary consumers, and so on.
Decomposers: Organisms that get energy from dead or waste organic material are referred to as decomposers, and form the last stage in a food chain. They are an integral part of a food chain, as they convert organic waste materials into inorganic materials, which enriches the soil or land with nutrients. They complete a life cycle.
Here is a fun game to help you apply what you have read, so far. Put the images in order of the food chain, beginning with producers.