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A food web is all the food chains that make up an ecosystem from producers to consumers to top predators. But here's a question. What happens to the energy and minerals in the top predator?
A food web is a graphic representation of a holistic, nonlinear web of primary producers, primary consumers, and higher-level consumers used to describe ecosystem structure and dynamics (Figure \(\PageIndex{1}\)).
- Producers
- Primary Consumers
- Secondary Consumers
- Tertiary Consumers
Producers or autotrophs make up the first trophic level of the food chain. They prepare their own food from sunlight, carbon dioxide, and water through photosynthesis. All other organisms in the ecosystem use them for food. Although green plants are the most abundant autotrophs on Earth, algae, phytoplanktons, and autotrophic bacterialiving in volc...
The second trophic level consists of herbivores that depend on producers for food. Cow, deer, elephant, and mice are primary consumers in the grassland ecosystem that consumes grasses, shrubs, and trees. In contrast, many fish and turtles are herbivores in the ocean ecosystem that eat algae and seagrass. In forests, sea urchins act as primary consu...
Secondary consumers are the organisms that reside on the third trophic level and depend on primary consumers for food. They can be carnivores or omnivores. Carnivores eat other animals, whereas omnivores eat both plants and animals. In a desert, a snake is a secondary consumer, eating mice. At the same time, in forests, sea otters are secondary con...
Tertiary consumers eat secondary consumers and are found at the last or the fourth trophic level. In deserts, an owl or an eagle is a tertiary consumer eating a snake. There are more levels of consumers above the tertiary consumers. Apex consumers residing at the top of the food chain are organisms that feed on other consumers for food. Such organi...
Basically, food web represents feeding relationships within a community (Smith and Smith 2009). It also implies the transfer of food energy from its source in plants through herbivores to...
Oct 31, 2023 · A food web describes the flow of energy and nutrients through an ecosystem, while a food chain is a linear path through a food web.
A food web is all of the food chains in an ecosystem. Each organism in an ecosystem occupies a specific trophic level or position in the food chain or web. Producers, who make their own food using photosynthesis or chemosynthesis, make up the bottom of the trophic pyramid.
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Oct 19, 2023 · A food web is all of the interactions between the species within a community that involve the transfer of energy through consumption. A food web incorporates different food chains within an environment. These types of interactions occur between producer and consumer, and between predator and prey. The transfer of energy starts with plants.
