Food Chain Information
Food chains were first introduced in a book published in 1927 by Charles Elton, which also introduced the food web concept.[1][2][3]
Food chain length
Food chains are directional paths of trophic energy or, equivalently, sequences of links that start with basal species, such as producers or fine organic matter, and end with consumer organisms. [4]:370
Rickleffs, Robert, E. (1996). The Economy of Nature. University of Chicago Press. p. 678. ISBN 0716738473. </ref>[5] Food chains are often used in ecological modeling (such as a three species food chain). They are simplified abstractions of real food webs, but complex in their dynamics and mathematical implications.[6] Ecologists have formulated and tested hypotheses regarding the nature of ecological patterns associated with food chain length, such as increasing length increasing with ecosystem size, reduction of energy at each successive level, or the proposition that long food chain lengths are unstable.[5] Food chain studies have had an important role in ecotoxicology studies tracing the pathways and biomagnification of environmental contaminants.[7]
Food chain vary in length from three to six or more levels. A food chain consisting of a flower, a frog, a snake and an owl consists of four levels; whereas a food chain consisting of grass, a grasshopper, a rat, a snake and finally a hawk consists of five levels. Producers are organisms that utilize solar energy or heat energy to synthesise starch.Eg.plants. All food chains must start with a producer. Consumers are organisms that eat other organisms. All organisms in a food chain, except the first organism, are consumers.
Italic text==References==
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- ^ Elton, C. S. (1927). Animal Ecology. London, UK.: Sidgwick and Jackson. ISBN 0226206394.
- ^ Allesina, S.; Alonso, D.; Pascual, M.. "A general model for food web structure.". Science 320 (5876): 658–661. doi:10.1126/science.1156269. http://cas.bellarmine.edu/tietjen/Secret/PlantGenome/General%20Model%20for%20Food%20WEb%20Structure.pdf.
- ^ Egerton, F. N. (2007). "Understanding food chains and food webs, 1700-1970". Bulletin of the Ecological Society of America 88: 50–69. doi:10.1890/0012-9623(2007)88[50:UFCAFW]2.0.CO;2. http://www.esajournals.org/doi/full/10.1890/0012-9623(2007)88%5B50%3AUFCAFW%5D2.0.CO%3B2.
- ^ Martinez, N. D. (1991). "Artifacts or attributes? Effects of resolution on the Little Rock Lake food web". Ecological Monographs 61 (4): 367–392. http://www.vliz.be/imisdocs/publications/72841.pdf.
- ^ a b Vander Zanden, M. J.; B. J., Shuter; Lester, N.; Rasmussen, J. B. (1999). "Patterns of food chain length in lakes: A stable isotope study.". The American Naturalist 154 (4): 406–416. doi:10.1086/303250. http://www.d.umn.edu/~thrabik/Vander%20Zanden%20et%20al.%201999.pdf.
- ^ Post, D. M.; Conners, M. E.; Goldberg, D. S. (2000). "Prey preference by a top predator and the stability of linked food chains.". Ecology 81: 8–14. doi:10.1890/0012-9658(2000)081[0008:PPBATP].0.CO;2]. http://www.cavehill.uwi.edu/FPAS/bcs/courses/Ecology/ECOL2452/Papers/Predation/Prey%20Preference%20by%20a%20Top%20Predator%20and%20the%20Stability%20of%20Linked%20Food%20Chains.pdf.
- ^ Odum, E. P.; Barrett, G. W. (2005). Fundamentals of ecology. Brooks/Cole. pp. 598. ISBN 9780534420666. http://www.cengage.com/search/totalsearchresults.do?N=16&image.x=0&image.y=0&keyword_all=fundamentals+of+ecology.
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