In the ecological study of
food interactions, what are
the autotrophic beings called?
As we know plants are only organisms which can synthesise/ produce their own food , thus they are called as autotrophs.
Remaining all organisms such as animals are called as heterotrophs as they are dependent on others for their food.
A food chain is sequence / series of an organism in which one organism is dependent on other organism for energy and food.
We can take a simple example of food chain in which sequence of organisms is
Plants → grasshopper → mice → snake → eagle → microbes
Let’s see all organisms and their role in food chain
Plants : As plants synthesise their own food they are called as Producers. Plants are primary source of food and energy for rest of the organisms. Plants are placed in first trophic level.
Thus, plants can be categorised as first trophic level- producers- autotrophs.
Next all organism falls into category of consumers as they consume food from another organism and do not produce own food.
Grasshopper is feeding on plant. So, it’s also a heterotroph and on the next / 2nd trophic level.
Mice is categorised as secondary consumer- third trophic level as it eats grasshopper to obtain food and energy. It can sometimes feed on plants as well.
Snakes feeds on mice hence it can be called as tertiary consumer. These are mostly carnivores.
Eagle is top most consumer and it feeds only on animals. Hence it can be categorised as top consumer- fifth trophic level.
And at last when the top consumer like eagle dies it gets decomposed by various microbes such as fungi, bacteria and these are called as Decomposers.
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