Trophic Levels: Food Chains
Biology: AQA GCSE Higher, topic 7.4.2
Food Chains
Food chains are made up of:
Predators
- A predator is a consumer that eats other animals.
Prey
- Prey are the animals that predators eat.
Apex predators
- Apex predators sit at the top of the food chain and are not preyed upon.
Decomposers
- Decomposers are responsible for recycling organic matter within an ecosystem.
- They represent the final stop for all food chains.
- They break down dead material by secreting (producing) enzymes.
- The enzymes partly digest the waste products, producing small and soluble food molecules.
- These small soluble molecules can then diffuse into the decomposer.
Test yourself on Trophic Levels: Food Chains
What occupies the top of a food chain?
A heron eats fish, and no other animal in its food chain eats the heron. What type of predator is the heron?
A wolf eats deer, but is sometimes eaten by bears in the same food chain. Why is the wolf not an apex predator?
Why do decomposers secrete enzymes onto dead material before absorbing food from it?