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Abbreviations: P=Producers, C1=Primary consumers, C2=Secondary consumers, C3=Tertiary consumers, S=Saprotrophs. [6] A four level trophic pyramid sitting on a layer of soil and its community of decomposers. A three layer trophic pyramid linked to the biomass and energy flow concepts.
There are two major food chains: The primary food chain is the energy coming from autotrophs and passed on to the consumers; and the second major food chain is when carnivores eat the herbivores or decomposers that consume the autotrophic energy. [16] Consumers are broken down into primary consumers, secondary consumers and tertiary consumers.
As primary consumers, zooplankton are the crucial link between the primary producers (mainly phytoplankton) and the rest of the marine food web (secondary consumers); [191] the ocean's primary producers are mostly tiny phytoplankton which have r-strategist traits of growing and reproducing rapidly, so a small mass can have a fast rate of ...
Level three: Decomposers, organisms that break down the dead matter of consumers and producers and return the nutrients back to the system. Example are bacteria and fungi . All energy transactions within an ecosystem derive from a single external source of energy, the sun. [ 29 ]
Decomposers are often left off food webs, but if included, they mark the end of a food chain. [6] Thus food chains start with primary producers and end with decay and decomposers. Since decomposers recycle nutrients, leaving them so they can be reused by primary producers, they are sometimes regarded as occupying their own trophic level. [7] [8]
Ecosystem respiration is the sum of respiration by all living organisms (plants, animals, and decomposers) in the ecosystem. [16] Net ecosystem production is the difference between gross primary production (GPP) and ecosystem respiration. [17]
Food chain in a Swedish lake. Osprey feed on northern pike, which in turn feed on perch which eat bleak which eat crustaceans.. A food chain is a linear network of links in a food web, often starting with an autotroph (such as grass or algae), also called a producer, and typically ending at an apex predator (such as grizzly bears or killer whales), detritivore (such as earthworms and woodlice ...
In addition to linking primary producers to higher trophic levels in marine food webs, zooplankton also play an important role as "recyclers" of carbon and other nutrients that significantly impact marine biogeochemical cycles, including the biological pump. This is particularly important in the oligotrophic waters of the open ocean.