Food chains, food webs & trophic levels

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A diagram showing a **single path of energy** through an ecosystem, drawn as organisms joined by **arrows**.

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**Several food chains linked together**, showing the many feeding relationships in an ecosystem more realistically.

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An organism's **feeding position** in a food chain (e.g. producer, primary consumer, secondary consumer).

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From the organism **being eaten** to the organism that **eats it** — the direction **energy flows** ('is eaten by').

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**Producer** (1) → **primary consumer** (2) → **secondary consumer** (3) → **tertiary consumer** (4).

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An organism that makes its own food by **photosynthesis** (an autotroph); it is always the **first** trophic level.

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A **herbivore** — an organism that eats **producers** (the second trophic level).

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A **carnivore** that eats **primary consumers** (the third trophic level).

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A **carnivore** that eats **secondary consumers** (the fourth trophic level).

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**Count the arrows from the producer** up to it: 1 producer, 2 primary, 3 secondary, 4 tertiary consumer.

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**Yes** — in a food web an organism that feeds at different levels (e.g. eats both a herbivore and a carnivore) occupies two levels at once.

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**Trace its arrows backwards** until you reach a **producer**, which originally captured the energy from **sunlight**.

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**Sunlight** — captured by producers during **photosynthesis**.