Food Chains and Trophic Levels

Question 1

What do food chains show?

Answer 1

Food chains show feeding relationships and energy flows within a biological community.

Question 2

What does an organism’s trophic level describe?

Answer 2

Where is fits into a food chain. Trophic levels are given numbers.

Question 3

What is at the base of all food chains? What are they called?

Answer 3

At the base of all food chains, there are green plants and algae. These are called producers and use light energy from the Sun to synthesise (make) their own food.

Question 4

What is at level 2 of the food chain? What are they called?

Answer 4

Herbivores that eat green plants and/or algae are called primary consumers

Question 5

What is at level 3 of the food chain? What are they called?

Answer 5

Carnivores that eat herbivores are called secondary consumers.

Question 6

What is at level 4 of the food chain? What are they called?

Answer 6

Carnivores that eat other carnivores are called tertiary consumers.

An apex predator is at the highest point in the food chain.

Question 7

What are decomposers responsible for?

Answer 7

Decomposers, such as bacteria and fungi, are responsible for recycling organic matter within an ecosystem.

Question 8

How do decomposers break down dead material?

Answer 8

Decomposers break down dead material by secreting (producing) enzymes. Enzymes partly digest the waste products, producing small and soluble food molecules. These small soluble molecules can then diffuse into the decomposer. They are the last stop in food chains.