Food Chain — Definition & Examples

The Food Chain

Food chains show how energy passes through an ecosystem. When one organism is eaten by another, most of the energy is lost and a little bit gets transferred to the consumer.

1. The first link in a chain goes to the producers, like plants. They use energy from sunlight to make their own food through the process of photosynthesis.
2. Consumers get their energy from the food they eat. The primary consumers, like rabbits or insects, eat plants. They are also known as herbivores.
3. The next few links in a chain consist of animals that eat other animals. The first one is carnivores, like snakes or weasels, who eat herbivores. You might also find omnivores, who eat both plants and other animals. Often there are multiple levels, such as secondary consumers, tertiary consumers, and quaternary consumers, that all occupy this space. The consumer at the top of the food chain is often called the apex predator or top-level consumer.
4. The last step of a chain goes to decomposers, like fungi, that use the remains of organisms to grow.

These feeding orders are needed to maintain a delicate balance in the environment. Each member of the food chain helps keep population sizes within the carrying capacity. If any part of the chain were damaged, the entire ecosystem would be in trouble.

$$\color{#8925AE}{\text{Vocabulary Review:}}$$

$\color{#8925AE}{\text{Food Chain}}$ : How energy passes through an ecosystem through organisms eating and being eaten

$\color{#8925AE}{\text{Producer}}$ : Organisms that produce their own food through photosynthesis or chemosynthesis

$\color{#8925AE}{\text{Consumer}}$ : Organisms that consume other organisms for energy

$\color{#8925AE}{\text{Decomposer}}$ : Organisms that break down waste and dead matter

What Are Food Chains?

Food chains and food webs are two ways that ecologists can show how energy is transferred between organisms within an ecosystem.

A food chain is a more basic, linear diagram. The first organism in a chain is usually an autotroph. This means it can synthesize its own food with light from the sun.

Let's use the picture above as an example. In this picture, grass is up first. Grass (the producer) synthesizes energy with help from the sun. Then, the grasshopper (an herbivore) receives this energy by eating the grass. Next, the mouse (a carnivore and secondary consumer) eats the grasshopper and receives its energy. Lastly, the owl (another carnivore) receives energy after eating the mouse. The last organism in the chain is the top predator. The amazing thing is that the grass allows all of the organisms after it in the food chain to survive and get energy.

(Video) Adventure Time | The Food Chain Song | Cartoon Network

by Cartoon Network

This funny video features Finn from Adventure Time singing about a simple food chain.