Food Chains/ Food Webs/ Ecological Pyramids

Every organism needs to obtain energy in order to live. For example, plants need light energy from
the sun to make food, some animals eat plants, and some animals eat other animals.
A food chain is a linear series of processes that shows the feeding relationships between organisms
in an ecosystem. It shows how each living organism gets food, and how nutrients and energy are
passed from one organism to another organism in an ecosystem.
A food web is a network of interconnected food chains.
Food chains and food webs are made up of different trophic levels. A trophic level describes the
position of an organism in a food chain or web. In some instances, organisms can occupy more
than one tropic level in the same food web based on what they consume.

• Trophic level 1: Primary producers. Makes its own food

• Trophic level 2: Primary consumers. Eats the primary producer.
• Trophic level 3: Secondary consumer. Eats the primary consumer
• Trophic level 4: Tertiary consumers. Eats the secondary consumer.
• Trophic level 5: Quaternary consumer. Eats the tertiary consumer.
Producers are called autotrophs because they make their own food through the process of
photosynthesis by converting the light energy into chemical energy.
Consumers are called heterotrophs because they obtain their energy from eating plants or other
animals. They can also be classified according to what they consume:

• Herbivores obtain their energy from eating plants only, e.g. cows, grasshoppers, snails,
parrotfish, sea-urchins

• Carnivores obtain their energy from eating animals only, e.g. lizards, toads, spiders,
centipedes, eagles, sharks.

• Omnivores obtain their energy from eating both plants and animals, e.g. hummingbirds,
humans, crayfish.
Examples of food chains:
Terrestrial Food Chain: (Land) Grass → Grasshopper → Lizard → Snake→ Hawk
Aquatic Food Chain: (Water) Phytoplankton → zooplankton → flying fish → Barracuda → Tiger shark

Flow of energy through food chains

• Producers convert light energy into chemical energy and it flows in this form from one
consumer to the next.

• However, energy transfer from one trophic level to the next is inefficient. Much of the total
energy from the original plant or animal material is lost. This is due to a number of reasons:
o Only part of the plant or animal is eaten, so the consumer only gets the energy
stored in the parts they consume.
o Not all parts of the plant or animal is digested. The energy in the undigested waste
(faeces) is removed from the body and provides food for decomposers.
o Plants and animals use some of the energy they receive to carry out essential life
processes such as growth and repair, movement, excretion and reproduction.
o The energy produced during respiration is lost as heat.
o Energy is lost when part of the plant/ the organism dies.

• As a result of this, only about 10% of the energy is transferred from one consumer to the
next. This inefficient loss of energy at each trophic level explains why food chains are rarely
more than 5 organisms long. There is not enough energy remaining to support organisms
at the higher trophic levels.
 Food Chains/ Food Webs/ Ecological Pyramids

Energy flow through the ecosystem

Energy lost as Energy lost as Energy lost as

heat during heat during heat during
respiration respiration respiration

Eaten Eaten Eaten

by by by
Primary Primary Secondary Tertiary
Producer Consumer Consumer Consumer
10,000kJ 1000kJ 100kJ 10kJ
Faeces, Urine

Faeces, Urine

Faeces, Urine
Death
Death

Death

Death
Decomposers in soil

Energy, flows from producers to consumers, to decomposers, in one direction through the
ecosystem. It is not recycled.
Decomposers and Detritivores
Detritivores and decomposers are organisms that are present in ecosystems. They are essential for
the recycling of chemical elements within all ecosystems.
Detritivores are animals which feed on pieces of decomposing organic matter, breaking them
down into smaller fragments. e.g. earthworms, woodlice, millipedes and sea cucumbers.
Decomposers are micro-organisms, i.e. bacteria and fungi, which feed on dead and waste organic
matter causing it to decompose. They secrete digestive enzymes that break down complex
organic compounds into simple organic compounds which they absorb. During this process, they
release carbon dioxide and inorganic mineral nutrients in the form of ions, e.g. nitrates and
sulphates, into the environment. These can then be reabsorbed and re-used by plants.
Decomposers ensure that dead and waste matter does not accumulate on the surface of the Earth
and enable the recycling of nutrients in the ecosystem so that they do not run out. Hence, they play
a very important role in an ecosystem.
To summarise, decomposers are important because they:

• During respiration they release CO2 that can be used by plants during photosynthesis.
• Recycle and release nutrients back into soil for plants
• Fix nitrogen for plants
• Prevents build-up of dead organic matter
Ecological Pyramids

• An ecological pyramid is a graphic representation of the relationship between organisms at

various trophic levels in a food chain.
• Each of the bars that make up the pyramid represents a different trophic level, and their
order, which is based on who eats whom, represents the flow of energy.
• Energy moves up the pyramid, starting with the primary producers and ending with either
a tertiary or quaternary consumer.
• Food chains, and by extension ecological pyramids rarely exceeds four or five trophic levels
because there is not enough energy to support organisms at higher trophic levels. There
are three types of ecological pyramids are:
 Food Chains/ Food Webs/ Ecological Pyramids

Pyramid of Numbers

• Represents: The number of organisms at each trophic.

• Trend: A decrease in the number of organisms from producers to top consumer. Usually,
this type of pyramid is largest at the bottom and gets smaller going up, but exceptions do
exist.
• Unit: Number of organisms

10
50
100
500

10
50
100
1

Pyramid of Biomass

• Represents: The total mass of organisms (biomass), at each trophic level, per unit area or
volume.
• Trend: A decrease in biomass from producers to top consumers. Usually, this type of
pyramid is largest at the bottom and gets smaller going up, but exceptions do exist.
• Unit: g/m2 or Kg/m2.

Pyramid of Energy

• Represents: The total amount of energy present at each trophic level, as well as the loss of
energy between trophic levels.
• Trend: A decrease in energy from producers to top consumers. Unlike the two other types,
the pyramid of energy can never be largest at the top and smallest at the bottom.
• Unit: J/m2/yr, where Joule is the unit for energy, which can be interchanged by other units
of energy such as Kilojoule, Kilocalorie, and calorie.
 Food Chains/ Food Webs/ Ecological Pyramids

Activity
Question 1:
Some aphids were observed on the tomato plants in a garden and ladybird beetles were seen
feeding on the aphids. The ladybirds were in turn, being eaten by the dragonflies which were
themselves being fed on by toads.

a) Use this information to draw a food chain for the organisms observed.

b) How many trophic are there in the food chain above?

c) Identify each of the following below:

i. Carnivore:
ii. Herbivore:
iii. Primary Producer:
iv. Primary Consumer:
v. Secondary Consumer:

d) Where does the energy stored in each organism come from?

e) Why do food chains rarely contain more than five trophic levels?
Question 2:

a) A food web is a network of interconnected food chains. From the food web above, identify
a food chain with
i. 3 trophic levels:
ii. 4 trophic levels:
iii. 7 trophic levels:

b) Identify 2 top predators:

i.______________________
ii.______________________

c) Identify 2 producers:
i.______________________
ii.______________________
 Food Chains/ Food Webs/ Ecological Pyramids

d) Identify an omnivore:
____________________

e) i. Identify which organisms will be affected if the titmouse was removed from the food
web.
____________________________________________________________

ii. Briefly state how each population will be affected.

_________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________

The importance of Biodiversity in ecosystems:

• Ecosystem stability relates to the ability of an ecosystem to withstand significant changes,

over time, and to repair any damage after any sudden changes.

• Generally, complex ecosystems with high species diversity tend to be more stable because
several species may be able to carry out the same function (occupy the same trophic level
and the same niche).

• A change in the density of one species is less likely to affect the density of others.

• For instance, if a disease severely changes the density of the titmouse population in Question
2 above, there will be no significant damage to the structure of the ecosystem since another
organism could take its place. Therefore, the stability of an ecosystem increases with
diversity.