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An apex predator, also known as a top predator or superpredator, is a predator [a] at the top of a food chain, without natural predators of its own. [ 6 ] [ 7 ] Apex predators are usually defined in terms of trophic dynamics , meaning that they occupy the highest trophic levels .
At the top of this food chain are apex predators such as lions. [130] Many predators however eat from multiple levels of the food chain; a carnivore may eat both secondary and tertiary consumers. [131] This means that many predators must contend with intraguild predation, where other predators kill and eat them.
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 ...
Consumer–resource interactions are the core motif of ecological food chains or food webs, [1] and are an umbrella term for a variety of more specialized types of biological species interactions including prey-predator (see predation), host-parasite (see parasitism), plant-herbivore and victim-exploiter systems.
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.
A carnivore at the top of the food chain (adults not preyed upon by other animals) is termed an apex predator, regardless of whether it is an obligate or facultative carnivore. In captivity or domestic settings, obligate carnivores like cats and crocodiles can, in principle, get all their required nutrients from processed food made from plant ...
A mesopredator is a predator that occupies a mid-ranking trophic level in a food web. [1] There is no standard definition of a mesopredator, but mesopredators are usually medium-sized carnivorous or omnivorous animals, such as raccoons, foxes, or coyotes. [2] [3] They are often defined by contrast from apex predators or prey in a particular ...
Food chain length is another way of describing food webs as a measure of the number of species encountered as energy or nutrients move from the plants to top predators. [ 41 ] : 269 There are different ways of calculating food chain length depending on what parameters of the food web dynamic are being considered: connectance, energy, or ...