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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 ...
The primary decomposer of litter in many ecosystems is fungi. [11] [12] Unlike bacteria, which are unicellular organisms and are decomposers as well, most saprotrophic fungi grow as a branching network of hyphae. Bacteria are restricted to growing and feeding on the exposed surfaces of organic matter, but fungi can use their hyphae to penetrate ...
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.
The mean chain length of an entire web is the arithmetic average of the lengths of all chains in a food web. [ 42 ] [ 14 ] In a simple predator-prey example, a deer is one step removed from the plants it eats (chain length = 1) and a wolf that eats the deer is two steps removed from the plants (chain length = 2).
In other words, the producers, consumers, and decomposers are the main trophic levels. This chain of energy transferring from one species to another can continue several more times, but eventually ends. At the end of the food chain, decomposers such as bacteria and fungi break down dead plant and animal material into simple nutrients.
A diagram that sets out the intricate network of intersecting and overlapping food chains for an ecosystem is called its food web. [6] 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 ...
A characteristic type of food chain called the detritus cycle takes place involving detritus feeders (detritivores), detritus and the microorganisms that multiply on it. For example, mud flats are inhabited by many univalves which are detritus feeders. When these detritus feeders take in detritus with microorganisms multiplying on it, they ...
The feeding relationships between different species in a given ecosystem. Also called a food chain, food network, or trophic social network. weed A plant growing where it is not wanted, often at a high rate of dispersal. wetland A type of ecosystem consisting of land permanently or seasonally saturated with water; the habitat of aquatic plants ...