Food+Chain

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__What is a Food Chain?__ A chain of organisms recieving energy and nutrients by eating another orginism is called a food chain. When an organism is being consumed it is the prey. Prey is living organisms that get captured and killed by another living organism that eats it. When the organism is consuming the other, its the predator. A predator is the organism that consumes the organism.[1] As this goes on, organisms eating and being eatin, a food chain starts to form. One of the most important parts of the food chain is plants that take the energy from the sun and from the atmosphere and soil to make food.[5]

__The Order of a Food Chain.__ In a food chain the first organism is always the producer, which is a plant. Next are the first level consumers, the first level consumers eat the producers. Then there are second level consumers which eat the first level consumers and somtimes the producers. The food chain can go on for a long time like this, as somthing is eating another. That is how the energy moves through an ecosystem. But most organisms don't eat the same thing everyday, just like humans.[2]

__Different Types of Organisms in a Food Chain.__ Different organisms get there food in different ways. There are decomposers, producers, carnivores, herbivore,omnivores and more. They each get there food in different ways, and they eat different things. For instence, a herbavore eats only plants, a carnivore only eats meats and omnivores eat both plants and animals. This helps make up a food chain. The producers, or plants, are at the bottom of the food chain. This is because they get eaten and don't eat. Plants get there energy through photosynthesis. An herbivore would eat the plant or producer. That herbivor would most likly then be eaten by a carnivor or omnivor. [3]

__Food Chain Basics.__
 Food chains are the basic cycle of food in which organisms depend on other organisms to live it there envirorment. There are many different types of food chains. One example would be the food chain in the epipelagic zone. There is also the forest food chain. They both have organisms that depend on each other. If any of the organisms die the predator[s] will suffer as well because there will not be any food for them to eat.[3]      __Energy Flow Through Food Chains.__ In each level of a food chain 90% of energy is lost from the heat. The total amount of energy that is passed from one level to the next is about 1 tenth of the energy that the previous animal recieved. So when you move up the food chain there is less energy recived.[7]

__Promblems With Food Chain's__ If a food chain has a crash or boom it can lead to pollution. A crash is when a population has a dramatic decrease. A boom is when a population has a dramatic increase. This can lead to many problems, including polution. For instance, if the deer population has a boom it can cause erosion. This is because in a food chain the deer are herbavores so they eat plants. When the plants are no longer there to hold in the soil, the soil becomes loose. When the eroshion ends up in the water it causes poloution. This can cause water orginisms to die. Just like in Grey area. [6]

[|Food Chain Video] [8]

[6] Enviromental/Detective Notebook
[7] Westbroek, Glen, Energy flow in ecosystems, August 7th 2000 [8] Food Chains In Tenton National Park, Laurie, 2007, Teacher Tube, 2009