what is a food chain in an ecosystem
Answers
All living things need to feed to get energy to grow, move and reproduce. But what do these living things feed on? Smaller insects feed on green plants, and bigger animals feed on smaller ones and so on. This feeding relationship in an ecosystem is called a food chain. Food chains are usually in a sequence, with an arrow used to show the flow of energy.Food chains describe the feeding relationship between the organisms of an ecosystem. The flow of energy from one species to another at various biotic levels forms a food chain. The successive levels in the food chains of a community are called as trophic levels. Various trophic levels in a food chain include producers, primary consumers, secondary consumers and tertiary consumers.
*Food chain helps in studying feeding relationships between organisms.
*Food chain also helps us to know how much energy we gain by consuming which food.
*Food chain helps us to know energy flow from one trophic level to another trophic level.
A food chain is not the same as a food web.
A food web is a network of many food chains and is more complex.
See the food web illustration below—you can pick out a basic food chain from the web: Green plants Grasshopper Frog Bird Hawk
Energy transfer:
Energy is transferred along food chains from one level to the next. Some of the energy is used up in growth, reproduction repair, movement and other ways, and not made available to the next level.
Shorter food chains retain more energy than longer chains. Used up energy is absorbed by the environment.
Smaller insects feed on green plants, and bigger animals feed on smaller ones and so on. This feeding relationship in an ecosystem is called a food chain. Food chains are usually in a sequence, with an arrow used to show the flow of energy. Below are some living things that can fit into a food chain.
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