Search results
Results from the WOW.Com Content Network
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 3 or higher, and typically finish with apex predators at level 4 or 5. The path along the chain can form either a one-way ...
Nonetheless, recent research has found that discrete trophic levels do exist, but "above the herbivore trophic level, food webs are better characterized as a tangled web of omnivores." [17] A central question in the trophic dynamic literature is the nature of control and regulation over resources and production.
A pyramid of biomass shows the relationship between biomass and trophic level by quantifying the biomass present at each trophic level of an ecological community at a particular time. It is a graphical representation of biomass (total amount of living or organic matter in an ecosystem) present in unit area in different trophic levels.
Of all the net primary productivity at the producer trophic level, in general only 10% goes to the next level, the primary consumers, then only 10% of that 10% goes on to the next trophic level, and so on up the food pyramid. [1] Ecological efficiency may be anywhere from 5% to 20% depending on how efficient or inefficient that ecosystem is.
Each of these constitutes a trophic level. [15] The sequence of consumption—from plant to herbivore, to carnivore—forms a food chain. Real systems are much more complex than this—organisms will generally feed on more than one form of food, and may feed at more than one trophic level.
[87] [88] Each trophic level contains unrelated species that are grouped together because they share common ecological functions, giving a macroscopic view of the system. [89] While the notion of trophic levels provides insight into energy flow and top-down control within food webs, it is troubled by the prevalence of omnivory in real ecosystems.
trophic cascade trophic level The position of an organism within a food chain: what it eats, and what eats it. tropics tropical rain forest A biome characterized by regular, heavy rainfall, a humidity of at least 80 percent, and great biodiversity. tundra A permanently frozen, treeless expanse between the ice cap and tree line of arctic regions.
Trophic coherence: The tendency of species to specialise on particular trophic levels leads to food webs displaying a significant degree of order in their trophic structure, known as trophic coherence, [22] which in turn has important effects on properties such as stability and prevalence of cycles.