Trophic Level
• A way of categorizing living organisms
according to how they gain their energy
• The first trophic level would be producers
and each higher level would contain
heterotrophs
Primary consumer
• An organism that relies directly on
producers or autotrophs for its source of
energy
• They are found in the second trophic level
• Example: rabbit, deer, moose
Secondary consumer
• An organism that relies directly on primary
consumers for its source of energy
• They are found in the third trophic level
Example: fox, pine marten
Tertiary consumer
Decomposer
• An organism that feed
on detrius, in the
process releasing
nutrients to the soil
and water
• Example: vulture,
fungi, bacteria
Food web
• A diagram showing the connections
among everything that organisms in a
location eat and are eaten by. A food web
is more complex than a food chain, by
showing more connections.
Food chain
• A step by step
sequence linking
organisms that feed
on each other,
starting with a food
source such as a
producer
Producer/autotroph
• An organism that uses energy and raw materials
to make its own food, whether from
photosynthesis or chemosynthesis
Consumer/heterotroph
• An organism that must eat producers or
other consumers to survive
Herbivore
• An animal that eats plants
Carnivore
• An animals that feeds
on other animals
Omnivore
• An animal that eats both plants and animals