Trophic Levels & Food Chains
Trophic levels
- Trophic levels are used to describe the feeding relationships between organisms
- Energy flows from the sun to the first trophic level (producers) in the form of light
- Producers convert light energy into chemical energy and it flows in this form from one consumer to the next
- Eventually, all energy is transferred to the environment – energy is passed on from one level to the next with some being used and lost at each stage
- Energy flow is a non-cyclical process – once the energy gets to the top of the food chain or web, it is not recycled but ‘lost’ to the environment
- This is in direct contrast to the chemical elements that organisms are made out of, which are repeatedly recycled
Trophic Levels Table
- Animals (known as consumers) can be at different trophic levels within the same food web as they may eat both primary, secondary and/or tertiary consumers
