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Trophic Level and Pyramids

The document explains trophic levels in an ecosystem, starting with producers at the first level and progressing through primary, secondary, tertiary, and quaternary consumers. It highlights the energy transfer between levels, noting that only about 10% of energy is passed to the next level, resulting in a decrease in energy, biomass, and number of organisms as one moves up the food chain. Additionally, it discusses ecological pyramids that visually represent these relationships and the potential for inverted pyramids in certain scenarios.

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12 views

Trophic Level and Pyramids

The document explains trophic levels in an ecosystem, starting with producers at the first level and progressing through primary, secondary, tertiary, and quaternary consumers. It highlights the energy transfer between levels, noting that only about 10% of energy is passed to the next level, resulting in a decrease in energy, biomass, and number of organisms as one moves up the food chain. Additionally, it discusses ecological pyramids that visually represent these relationships and the potential for inverted pyramids in certain scenarios.

Uploaded by

sbatticksss
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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Trophic Levels

• Each link in a food chain is known


as a trophic level.
• The trophic levels refer to the
position of a group of organisms in
the food chain, food web, or
ecological pyramid based on their
feeding pattern.
Trophic Levels
First Trophic Level: Producers
All food chains and ecological pyramids
start with producers. They are found
at the base or the first trophic level.
Producers are autotrophic organisms
that make their food using the sun’s
energy. Green plants, algae, and
autotrophic bacteria are examples of
autotrophs.
Trophic Levels
The rest of the trophic levels above the
consumers are heterotrophs. They
cannot prepare their food and depend
on producers to acquire nutrition.
Consumers are of three types,
herbivores, carnivores, and omnivores.
Trophic Levels
Second Trophic Level: Primary Consumers
The second trophic level above the producers consists
of herbivores. These organisms feed on producers
and are called primary consumers. Grasshoppers,
butterflies, insects, and herbivorous animals like
cows, goats, and pigs are examples of primary
consumers
Third Trophic Level: Secondary Consumers
Carnivores and omnivores occupy the following
successive levels. Carnivores feed only on other
animals, whereas omnivores eat plants and animals.
Frogs, rats, mice, and some birds, like sparrows,
are an example of secondary consumers.
Trophic Levels
Fourth Trophic Level: Tertiary Consumers
Next to the secondary consumers at the fourth trophic level are
the tertiary consumers, primarily carnivores, which prey on
secondary consumers. Carnivorous animals like foxes, coyotes,
and mountain lions are typical tertiary consumers. Sometimes,
tertiary consumers are apex predators such as lions and
foxes.
Fifth Trophic Level: Quaternary Consumers
Further up at the fifth tropic level at the top of the ecological
pyramid are the quaternary consumers that feed on tertiary
consumers. Quaternary consumers are mostly apex predators
with no natural predators and thus die of natural death.
Tigers, lions, Foxes, and hawks
Trophic Levels
E Tertiary
consumers- top
carnivores
N
Secondary
E consumers-small
carnivores
R Primary consumers- Herbivores
G
Y Producers- Autotrophs
Trophic Levels
Trophic Levels and Energy
Energy is transferred from lower to
higher tropic levels of the food chain.
However, only about 10 percent of the
energy at one level is passed to the
next level. The rest is lost as heat or
is used during metabolism. Thus, the
first trophic level has the most
energy, and the fifth tropic level has
the least.
Trophic Levels
Ecological Pyramids
This pyramid helps one visualize the fact that
in an ecological system there need to be
many producing organisms at the bottom of
the pyramid to be able to sustain just a
couple of organisms at the top.
A basic pyramid shape often represents a
typical food chain or food web. The
pyramid represents the decrease in the
amount of energy, the number of organisms
and the biomass from the producer to the
high - order consumer levels.
Ecological Pyramids
Pyramid of Energy
Energy is lost between each link in a food chain. Much of the
potential energy at each level never reaches the next level.
Some of the energy that enters a food chain is used as each
organism carries out its life functions (metabolic processes,
reproduction, predator/prey behavior). To carry out life
functions, consumers acquire energy through the breaking down
of food molecules they consume (eat).
Ecological Pyramids
Pyramid of Biomass
Biomass is the biological material in an organism. This
excludes the water.
A pyramid of biomass is a diagram that shows the
biomass of organisms at each trophic level in an
ecosystem.
.

As you move up a food chain, both available energy and biomass


decrease.
Ecological Pyramids
Pyramid of Numbers-
This diagram shows the number of organism at each
trophic level in an ecosystem. The size of each
block represents the numbers of individual
organisms at each trophic level.

The loss of energy at each trophic level also explains


why there are usually fewer organisms in each
higher trophic level.
Ecological Pyramids
Some pyramids are sometimes inverted. This is
because sometimes a single tree has to support
large numbers of herbivores and a few carnivores.
Note that the producer and herbivore trophic levels
form an inverted pyramid.
Classwork
Label the ecological pyramid below with the following words:
producers, tertiary consumer, secondary consumer, autotroph,
heterotroph, primary consumer, decomposers, hawk, grass,
chicken, grasshopper. Also label and explain what happens to
energy, biomass and number of organism.

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