Food chain

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Jump to: navigation, search This article does not cite any references or sources. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (June 2009)

Example of a food chain in a Swedish lake. Osprey feed on northern pike that feed on perch that eat leak that feed on freshwater shrimp. !hou"h unshown# the primary producers of this food chain are pro a ly autotrophic phytoplankton. Food chains, also called food webs, describe the eating relationships bet een species ithin an ecosystem or a particular living place. !any types of food chains or ebs are applicable depending on habitat or environmental factors. ho eats hat in the environmant is called a food chain."n the environment everyone is linked to each other.These links form a food chain. #rganisms are connected to the organisms they consume by lines representing the direction of organism or energy transfer. "t also sho s ho the energy from the producer is given to the consumer. Typically a food chain or food eb refers to a graph here only connections are recorded, and a food net ork or ecosystem net ork refers to a net ork

here the connections are given eights representing the $uantity of nutrients or energy being transferred. %ometimes, on a food chain, each animal is separated ith an arro . "f it is pointing right, it means &is eaten by& or &is consumed by&. 'very single food chain kno n to !an begins ith a type of autotroph, hether it be a plant or some kind of unicellular organism.

Contents
(hide)

* #rganisms represented in food chains + Flo of food chains , Food eb - 'nergy flo . %ee also / 0eferences o /.* 1otes
o

/.+ 2ibliography

[edit] Organisms represented in food chains

'nergy enters the food chain from the sun. %ome energy and3or biomass is lost at each stage of the food chain as4 faeces 5solid aste6, movement energy and heat energy 5especially by arm7blooded creatures6. Therefore, only a small amount of energy and biomass is incorporated into the consumer8s body and transferred to the ne9t feeding level, thus sho ing a Pyramid of 2iomass. Primary producers, commonly forming autotrophs, produce comple9 organic substances 5essentially &food&6 from an energy source and materials. These organisms are typically photosynthetic plants, hich use sunlight as their energy source. : fe , such as those organisms forming the base of deep7sea vent food ebs, are chemotrophic, using chemical energy instead. #rganisms that get their energy by organic substances are called heterotrophs. ;eterotrophs include herbivores, hich obtain their energy by consuming live plants4 carnivores, hich obtain energy from eating live animals. Ultimately detritivores, scavengers and decomposers may predate living or consume dead biomass. :n animal hich eats plants is a herbivore.:n animal hich eats other animals is a carnivore.:n animal hich eats plants and other animals is an omnivore. Food ebs are more detailed then food chains

[edit] Flow of food chains

: food chain is the flo of energy from one organism to the ne9t and to the ne9t and so on. #rganisms in a food chain are grouped into trophic levels, based on ho many links they are removed from the primary producers. Trophic levels may contain either a single species or a group of species that are presumed to share both predators and prey, and usually start ith a plant and end ith a carnivore. "t is often the case that the biomass of each trophic level decreases from the base of the chain to the top. This is because energy is lost to the environment ith each transfer. #n average, only *<= of the organism8s energy is passed on to its predator. The other ><= is used for the organism8s life processes or is lost as heat to the environment. ?raphic representations of the biomass or productivity at each tropic level are called trophic pyramids. %ome producers, especially phytoplankton, are so productive and have such a high turnover rate that they can actually support a larger biomass of gra@ers. This is called an in$erted pyramid, and can occur hen consumers live longer and gro more slo ly than the organisms they consume. : pyramid of numbers sho s the number of consumers at each level drops significantly, so that a single top consumer 5e.g. a Polar 2ear6 ill be supported by literally millions of separate producers 5e.g. Phytoplankton6.

[edit] Food web

Food chains are overly simplistic as representatives of hat typically happens in nature. The food chain sho s only one path ay of energy and material transfer. !ost consumers feed on multiple species and are, in turn, fed upon by multiple other species. The relations of detritivores and parasites are seldom ade$uately characteri@ed in such chains as ell. : food eb is a set of interconnected food chains by hich energy and materials circulate ithin an ecosystem. The food eb is divided into t o broad categories: the gra@ing eb, hich typically begins ith green plants, algae, or photosynthesi@ing plankton, and the detrital eb, hich begins ith organic debris. These ebs are made up of individual food chains. "n a gra@ing eb, materials typically pass from plants to plant eaters to flesh eaters. "n a detrital eb, materials pass from plant and animal matter to bacteria and fungi 5decomposers6, then to detritivores, and then to their predators 5carnivores6. ?enerally, many interconnections e9ist ithin food ebs. For e9ample, the fungi that decompose matter in a detrital eb may sprout mushrooms that are consumed by s$uirrels, mice, and deer in a gra@ing eb. 0obins are omnivores 5consumers of both plants and animals6 and thus are in both detrital and gra@ing ebs. 0obins typically feed on earth orms, hich are detritivores that feed upon decaying leaves.

;erbivores belong to the second trophic level. Aarnivores, predators feeding upon the herbivores, belong to the third. #mnivores belong to both the second and third. %econdary carnivores, hich are predators that feed on other predators, belong to the fourth trophic level. :s the trophic levels rise, the predators become fe er, larger, fiercer and more agile. :t the second and higher levels, decomposers of the available materials function as herbivores or carnivores depending on hether their food is plant or animal material.

[edit] Energy flow

Through these series of steps of consuming and being consumed, energy flo s from one trophic level to another. ?reen plants or other photosynthesi@ing organisms use light energy from the sun to manufacture carbohydrates for their o n needs. !ost of this chemical energy is processed in metabolism and dissipated as heat in respiration. Plants convert the remaining energy to biomass, both above ground as oody and herbaceous tissue and belo ground as roots. Ultimately, this material, hich is stored energy, is transferred to the second trophic level, hich comprises gra@ing herbivores, decomposers, and detrital feeders. !ost of the energy assimilated at the second trophic level is again lost as heat in respiration4 a fraction becomes ne biomass. #rganisms in each trophic level pass on as biomass much less energy than they receive. Thus, the more steps bet een producer and final consumer, the less energy remains available. %eldom are there more than four links, or five levels, in a food eb. 'ventually, all energy flo ing through the trophic levels is dissipated as heat. The process hereby energy loses its capacity to do ork is called entropy.

%ummerhayes and 'lton8s *>+, food eb of 2ear "sland 5%rrows represent an or"anism ein" consumed y another or"anism6. The earliest food ebs ere published by Bictor %ummerhayes and Aharles 'lton in *>+, and ;ardy(who&) in *>+-. %ummerhayes and 'lton8s diagram depicted the interactions of plants, animals and bacteria on 2ear "sland, 1or ay.(*)

[edit] See also

Ecology portal Environment portal Sustainable development portal

2alance of 1ature 2iodiversity 'cology 'cosystem 'arth %cience Food supply chains Food systems 1atural environment 1ature Cist of feeding behaviours :ntipredator adaptations

[edit] References
[edit] Notes
*. ^ %ummerhayes B%, 'lton A% 5*>+,6 Aontributions to the 'cology of %pitsbergen and 2ear "sland. "nteractions of herring and plankton in the 1orth %ea

[edit] ibliography

&Food chain& : Dictionary of Eoology. 'd. !ichael :llaby. #9ford University Press, *>>>. #9ford 0eference #nline. #9ford University Press. University of Utah. ++ 1ovember +<<F (*)

vGdGe

Feeding beha!iours

;ematophagy " "nsectivore " Cepidophagy " !an7eater " !olluscivore " adult !ucophagy " !yrmecophagy " #phiophagy " Piscivore " %pongivore Carni!ores reproducti!e cannibalistic #ophagy " #vophagy " Paedophagy " Placentophagy " 2reastfeeding " Weaning Aannibalism " ;uman cannibalism " %elf7 cannibalism " %e9ual cannibalism

#erbi!ores

Folivore " Frugivore " ?raminivore " ?ranivore " 1ectarivore " Palynivore " Hylophagy " #steophagy 2acterivore " Aoprophagia " Detritivore " Fungivore " ?eophagy " #mnivore

Others

$ist of feeding beha!iours

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Jump to: navigation, search Cook up Appendix:Eating and feeding in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. Feeding is the process by hich organisms, typically animals, obtain food. Terminology often uses either the suffi9 '$ore from Catin $orare, meaning 8to devour8, or pha"y, from ?reek ()*+,-, meaning 8to eat8. Polyphagy is the ability of an animal to eat a variety of food, hereas monophagy is the intolerance of every food e9cept of one specific type 5see generalist and specialist species6.

!os$uito drinking blood

0osy boa eating a mouse hole

0ed Iangaroo eating grass

The robberfly is an insectivore

0obin eating a orm

;ummingbird drinking nectar

Irill filter feeding

Contents
(hide)

* Alassification o *.* 2y mode of ingestion o *.+ 2y mode of digestion o *., 2y food type + 'volutionary adaptations , %torage behaviours

[edit] Classification
[edit] y mode of ingestion
There are many modes of feeding that animals e9hibit, including:

filter feeding 7 obtaining nutrients from particles suspended in ater deposit feeding 7 obtaining nutrients from particles suspended in soil fluid feeding 7 obtaining nutrients by consuming other organisms8 fluids bulk feeding 7 obtaining nutrients by eating all of an organism 0am feeding and %uction feeding 7 ingesting prey via the fluids around it.

[edit] y mode of digestion

'9tra7cellular digestion 7 e9creting digesting en@ymes and then reabsorbing the products

!y@ocytosis 7 one cell pierces another using a feeding tube, and sucks out cytoplasm Phagocytosis 7 engulfing food matter into living cells, here it is digested

[edit] y food type

:nother classification refers to the specific food animals speciali@e in eating, such as:

Aarnivore 7 the eating of animals o ;ematophagy 7 eating blood o "nsectivore 7 eating insects !yrmecophagy 7 eating ants and3or termites o Cepidophagy 7 eating fish scales o !an7eater 7 eating humans o !olluscivore 7 eating molluscs o !ucophagy 7 eating mucus o #phiophagy 7 eating snakes o Piscivore 7 eating fish o %pongivore 7 eating sponges ;erbivore 7 the eating of plants o Folivore 7 eating leaves o Frugivore 7 eating fruits o ?raminivore 7 eating grasses o ?ranivore 7 eating seeds o 1ectarivore 7 eating nectar o Palynivore 7 eating pollen o Hylophagy 7 eating ood #mnivore 7 the eating of both plants and animals Fungivore 7 the eating of fungus 2acterivore 7 the eating of bacteria

The eating of non7living or decaying matter:

Aoprophagy 7 eating faeces Detritivore 7 eating decomposing material ?eophagy 7 eating inorganic earth #steophagy 7 eating bones %cavenger 7 eating carrion

There are also several unusual food sources hich can give rise to opportunistic or desperate feeding behaviours, such as:

Aannibalism 7 feeding on members of the same species %elf7cannibalism 7 feeding on parts of one8s o n body 5see also autophagy6

%e9ual cannibalism 7 cannibalism after mating Ileptoparasitism 7 stealing food from another animal Trophalla9is 7 eating food regurgitated by another animal #ophagy 7 eating eggs #vophagy 7 eating embryos Paedophagy 7 eating young animals Placentophagy 7 eating placenta

[edit] E!olutionary adaptations

The speciali@ation of organisms to ards specific food sources is one of the maJor causes of evolution of form and function, such as:

mouth parts and teeth, such as in hales, vampire bats, leeches, mos$uitos, predatory animals such as felines and fishes, etc distinct forms of beaks in birds, such as in ha ks, oodpeckers, pelicans, hummingbirds, parrots, kingfishers, etc. speciali@ed cla s and other appendages, for apprehending or killing 5including fingers in primates6 changes in body colour for facilitating camouflage, disguise, setting up traps for preys, etc. changes in the digestive system, such as the system of stomachs of herbivores, commensalism and symbiosis

Aonversely, prey species accumulate adaptations to resist being predated apon4 see antipredator adaptations.

[edit] Storage beha!iours

%ome animals e9hibit hoarding and caching behaviours in hich they store or hide food for later use.

vGdGe

Feeding beha!iours
;ematophagy " "nsectivore " Cepidophagy " !an7eater " !olluscivore " adult !ucophagy " !yrmecophagy " #phiophagy " Piscivore " %pongivore Carni!ores reproducti!e #ophagy " #vophagy " Paedophagy " Placentophagy " 2reastfeeding " Weaning

cannibalisticAannibalism " ;uman cannibalism " %elf7

cannibalism " %e9ual cannibalism

#erbi!ores

Folivore " Frugivore " ?raminivore " ?ranivore " 1ectarivore " Palynivore " Hylophagy " #steophagy 2acterivore " Aoprophagia " Detritivore " Fungivore " ?eophagy " #mnivore :pe9 predator " 2ottom feeding " 2ro sing " ;ypercarnivore " Filter feeding " ?ra@ing " Ileptoparasitism " %cavenging " Trophalla9is

Others

%ethods

Predation " :ntipredator adaptation " Aarnivorous plant " Aarnivorous fungus " Aarnivorous protist " Aategory:'ating behaviors 0etrieved from &http:33en. ikipedia.org3 iki3CistKofKfeedingKbehaviours& Aategories: 'thology L 'ating behaviors
&iews

:rticle Discussion Edit this page ;istory

'ersonal tools

Try 2eta

$og in ( create account

Na!igation Search

!ain page Aontents Featured content Aurrent events 0andom article

Go

Search

)nteraction *oolbo+

:bout Wikipedia Aommunity portal 0ecent changes Aontact Wikipedia Donate to Wikipedia ;elp

What links here 0elated changes Upload file %pecial pages Printable version Permanent link Aite this page

$anguages

:frikaans 'esti FranMais PortuguNs

This page as last modified on ** :ugust +<<> at *.:<.. Te9t is available under the Areative Aommons :ttribution7%hare:like Cicense4 additional terms may apply. %ee Terms of Use for details. WikipediaO is a registered trademark of the Wikimedia Foundation, "nc., a non7 profit organi@ation. Privacy policy :bout Wikipedia Disclaimers