Soil Food Web - Above Ground Food Webs

Above Ground Food Webs

In above ground food webs, energy moves from producers (plants) to primary consumers (herbivores) and then to secondary consumers (predators). The phrase, trophic level, refers to the different levels or steps in the energy pathway. In other words, the producers, consumers, and decomposers are the main trophic levels. This chain of energy transferring from one species to another can continue several more times, but eventually ends. At the end of the food chain, decomposers such as bacteria and fungi break down dead plant and animal material into simple nutrients.

Read more about this topic:  Soil Food Web

Famous quotes containing the words ground, food and/or webs:

    “The mode of clearing and planting is to fell the trees, and burn once what will burn, then cut them up into suitable lengths, roll into heaps, and burn again; then, with a hoe, plant potatoes where you can come at the ground between the stumps and charred logs; for a first crop the ashes suffice for manure, and no hoeing being necessary the first year. In the fall, cut, roll, and burn again, and so on, till the land is cleared; and soon it is ready for grain, and to be laid down.”
    —Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)

    “The office of the prince and that of the writer are defined and assigned as follows: the nobleman gives rank to the written work, the writer provides food for the prince.”
    —Franz Grillparzer (1791–1872)

    “Poets and kings are but the clerks of Time,
    Tiering the same dull webs of discontent,
    Clipping the same sad alnage of the years.”
    —Edwin Arlington Robinson (1869–1935)