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Trophic Levels and Pyramids The food chain shows the direct transfer of food energy between the trophic levels (a trophic level is a feeding level in the chain of energy transfer) There are 4 trophic levels; Trophic level 1 = autotrophs (producers capable of producing solar energy into food energy for their own use and for the consumption of others) (The next 3 levels are heterotrophs – consumers which cannot produce their own food energy but have to feed on other organisms in order to obtain energy) Trophic level 2 = herbivores (plant eaters e.g. rabbits) Trophic level 4 = Carnivores (meat eaters e.g. foxes) Trophic level 4 = Top carnivores (e.g. birds of prey ) There are also omnivores (eaters of both plants & meat e.g. humans and detritivores (decomposers e.g. fungi & bacteria) Only about 1% of the energy from insolation is converted by photosynthesis in which the green plants convert sunlight, H2O and CO2 into carbohydrates such as glucose. This provides energy for the producers that they can use in; Growth Reproduction Movement Respiration - but also food energy that can be used by herbivores. At each trophic level energy is used by the organisms and so at each successive level there is less energy available, so the amount of living organic matter that can be supported is reduced. This reduction in energy leads to a pyramid structure known as a trophic pyramid. The width of each stage is considered to be proportional to the amount of energy stored (the biomass – the amount of living matter or stored energy in an ecosystem or in a trophic level) While the idea of a food chain is simple, in any ecosystem there are more complex feeding patterns which can be shown by using a food web.