How would you describe the trophic levels in a typical ecosystem? Discuss the flow of energy through the ecosystem, the relationship between the different trophic levels, and the factors that limit the number of trophic levels.

1 Answer
Sep 21, 2017

Biodiversity is a key term

Explanation:

Think about a short cycle:

#Grass-> Sheep#

Finally when these two species die, decomposers will work on them. However, as a general rule only 10% of energy stored in grass will pass to sheep.

Think about this:

#Weed -> Chicken-> Snake-> #Eagle

Only 0.1% of energy stored in weed pass to eagle. Snake is secondary consumer and eagle is tertiary consumer.

The same in terms of decomposers is valid in this food chain.

If you have diverse plant species, if there is no human control and contamination in a specific ecosystem, you can expect a complex food web there.

The factors that limit food web (in terrestrial ecosystems) are precipitation and temperature. Optimum levels in both these factors support higher biodiversity.