Food chain

Food chains and food webs or food networks describe the feeding relationships between species in a biotic community. In other words, they show the transfer of material and energy from one species to another within an ecosystem.

Related Topics:
Biotic community - Ecosystem

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As usually diagrammed, an organism is connected to another organism for which it is a source of food energy and material by an arrow representing the direction of biomass transfer. Organisms are grouped into trophic levels—from the Greek for nourishment, trophikos—based on how many links they are removed from the primary producers. Primary producers, or autotrophs, are species capable of producing complex organic substances (essentially "food") from an energy source and inorganic materials. These organisms are typically photosynthetic plants or algae, but in rares cases, like those organisms forming the base of deep-sea vent food webs, can be chemotrophic.

Related Topics:
Organism - Food energy - Material - Biomass - Trophic level - Primary producer - Autotroph - Photosynthetic plants - Chemotroph

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