A food chain is a linear network of links in a food web, often starting with an autotroph (such as grass or algae), also called a producer, and typically ending at an apex predator (such as grizzly bears or killer whales), detritivore (such as earthworms and woodlice), or decomposer (such as fungi or bacteria). It is not the same as a food web.

Food chains show how energy is passed from the sun to producers, from producers to consumers, and from consumers to decomposes such as fungi. They also show how animals depend on other organisms for food.

A freshwater aquatic food web. The blue arrows show a complete food chain (algae → daphnia → gizzard shad → largemouth bass → great blue heron) A food web is the natural interconnection of food chains and a graphical representation of what-eats-what in an ecological community.

A consumer in a food chain is a living creature that eats organisms from a different population. A consumer is a heterotroph and a producer is an autotroph. Like sea angels, they take in organic moles by consuming other organisms, so they are commonly called consumers.

Jan 11, 2025 · Food chain, in ecology, the sequence of transfers of matter and energy in the form of food from organism to organism. Food chains intertwine locally into a food web because most organisms consume more than one type of animal or plant. Learn more about food …

Jun 15, 2023 · A food chain is a group of organisms that are consumed in a linear order, passing nutrients and energy along the way. Each organism in a food chain is at a particular trophic level, which is determined by how many energy transfers distance it …

Mar 24, 2024 · A food chain is a line of organisms where nutrients and energy move from one to the next as one eats the other. Let’s look at the different parts of a typical food chain, starting with the producers at the bottom and working our way up. …

A food chain explains which organism eats another organism in the environment. The food chain is a linear sequence of organisms where nutrients and energy is transferred from one organism to the other. This occurs when one organism consumes another organism. It begins with the producer organism, follows the chain and ends with the decomposer ...

Feb 17, 2023 · A food chain refers to a linear sequence of organisms showing how energy or nutrient flows through an ecosystem when one organism consumes another for its survival. It provides information about which species eats which other species in nature.

What is a food chain? A food chain is a sequence describing how different animals eat each other, showing the order in which living things depend on each other for food. Starting with a plant and ending with an animal, a food chain is a diagram showing how energy is transferred between different organisms in an ecosystem.