Food Webs

Very few animals have a diet that is restricted to only a single food source, so the concept of a linear food chain is extremely simplistic. In reality, trophic relationships within a community are more like a food web in which dozens of plant species support a wide variety of herbivores which in turn are consumed by numerous predators and parasites. If one species within a food chain becomes scarce (perhaps due to bad weather or overexploitation), there will be serious repercussions on all other species in the chain. But in a complex food web, changes in individual populations are likely to have a smaller impact because they are buffered by the availability of an alternative prey or host species.

Biologists use a food chain or food cycle to show how each living thing gets its food. All food chains start with the sun and some type of plant. Each link in the chain is food for the next link. When an animal eats the plant, food energy is transferred from the plant to the animal. That animal is eaten by another animal and in turn that animal is eaten by another, with energy being transferred and used up at each step in the chain.

The animals in the chain are called CONSUMERS

If it eats plants it is called a primary

consumer. The animal or bird that eats the primary consumer is called and there are different a secondary consumer. levels. The animal or bird that eats the secondary consumer is called a tertiary consumer HERBIVORES eat only plants or plant products. That makes them PRIMARY CONSUMERS CARNIVORES only eat meat! They eat other animals. That makes them SECONDARY OR TERTIARY CONSUMERS OMNIVORES eat both plants and meat. So when a squirrel eats acorns or fruits, it is a PRIMARY CONSUMER; but, when it eats insects or baby birds, it is a SECONDARY CONSUMER. DECOMPOSERS are the cleanup crew of life. They're just carnivores and herbivores that like their food already dead. Like maggots, bacteria, fungus, earthworms and other scavengers