FOOD CHAIN FOOD WEB

Decomposers- are organisms that feed on corpses of dead organic

Decomposer chain or saprobe chain- might run from a large org. ( fungus
to smaller organisms protozoans and bacteria)
 4 MAJOR METHODS OF
STUDYING TROPHIC
RELATIONSHIPS
1. Use direct observations- as birdwatchers do
- use of camera
2. Gut analysis- samples of potential food are collected from the field
and compared with fragments of food in the gut of the animals under
study.
3. Radionuclide tracer analysis-
4. Serological technique
ELTONIAN PYRAMID CONCEPT
Pyramid of consumer layers
Size class

Number of individuals

Fig. 3. Eltonian pyramid of numbers

 FOOD CHAIN
Was first coined by Elton in 1927
Signifying the feeding links between organisms as food passes from the plant
to the herbivore to the carnivore and perhaps to higher carnivore.
Sequence of eating and being eaten.
e.g.
 Corn seed corn seed beetle (carabid herbivore) carabid beetle

vole

owl

sun corn Corn Carabid vole owl

seed beetle
beetle predator
Top predators feed on a diversity of prey and this prey also feeds upon a variety of
other organisms.

Food web
- Refers to intersecting food chain
- The specific roles and interactions among the various organisms involved in a plant
system can be viewed ecologically in terms of food chains.
- The food web shows:
- 1. shows the regular population of natural enemies
- 2. possible biotic constraints that affect the natural enemies e.g. the hyperparasitoids.
the presence of hyperparasitoids render some natural enemies ineffective as control agents of
pest.
- 3. also shows the potential of combining two or more natural enemies against pest.
 Producers are plants, the base trophic level transforming solar energy
into potential energy in the form of fixed carbon compounds.
Consumers- representatives of all trophic levels, which include
herbivores, carnivores, omnivores and parasites.
Primary consumer- Primary consumers (2) are the primary carnivores
(flesh eaters)
Tertiary consumers- are secondary carnivores and so on.
Top carnivores- animals of the highest link in the food chain
A parasite food chain- typically runs from a small animal (flea) to an even
smaller animal (protozoan parasite of flea) to an even smaller still
(bacterial disease of protozoan)
FOOD CHAIN & FOOD WEB
FOOD- is essential to all organisms ecologists regarded food as an organizing influence
in communities.
- Shortage of food will limit population increase.

TRITROPHIC INTERACTIONS
Crop= 1ST trophic level/primary producer
Pests= 2nd trophic level/primary consumer
Predators
Parasitoids 3rd trophic level/ 2 consumer
Pathogens of insect pests antagonistic bacteria
and fungi of plant pathogens etc.