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A food pyramid and a corresponding food web, demonstrating some of the simpler patterns in a food web A graphic representation of energy transfer between trophic layers in an ecosystem Energy flow is the flow of energy through living things within an ecosystem . [ 1 ]
However, the number of empirical studies on community webs is on the rise and the mathematical treatment of food webs using network theory had identified patterns that are common to all. [1] Scaling laws , for example, predict a relationship between the topology of food web predator-prey linkages and levels of species richness .
Within a food web, a food chain is a succession of organisms that eat other organisms and may, in turn, be eaten themselves. The trophic level of an organism is the number of steps it is from the start of the chain. A food web starts at trophic level 1 with primary producers such as plants, can move to herbivores at level 2, carnivores at level ...
A survey of Lake Michigan located at least 40 large craters on the lakebed. Initial studies highlighted the spots as unknown shapes, but additional research revealed the craters are filled with ...
Explaining the observed high levels of complexity in ecosystems [1] has been one of the main challenges and motivations for ecological network analysis, since early theory predicted that complexity should lead to instability. [2] Connectance: the proportion of possible links between species that are realized (links/species 2). In food webs, the ...
The microbial food web refers to the combined trophic interactions among microbes in aquatic environments. These microbes include viruses, bacteria, algae, heterotrophic protists (such as ciliates and flagellates). [1] In aquatic ecosystems, microbial food webs are essential because they form the basis for the cycling of nutrients and energy.
Biomagnification is a process causing the concentration of a substance (crosses) to increase at higher levels of the food chain. In this scenario, a pond has been contaminated with toxic waste. Further up the food chain, the concentration of the contaminant increases, sometimes resulting in the top consumer dying.
A food web is network of food chains, and as such can be represented graphically and analysed using techniques from network theory. [1] [2] Classic food web for grey seals in the Baltic Sea containing several typical marine food chains [3] The fourth trophic level consists of predatory fish, marine mammals and seabirds that consume forage fish.