AP BIOLOGY

Detailed explanation-1: -Trophic levels comprise the nutritive arrangement or food chain of the ecosystem. Here, the organisms are ranked based on their food requirements.

Detailed explanation-2: -Animals and plants are linked by food chains….. Animals get energy and nutrients by eating other animals or plants. For example, caterpillars eats leaves; small birds eat caterpillars; owls eat small birds; eagles eat owls. These links between animals and plants are called food chains.

Detailed explanation-3: -The food chain describes who eats whom in the wild. Every living thing-from one-celled algae to giant blue whales-needs food to survive. Each food chain is a possible pathway that energy and nutrients can follow through the ecosystem. For example, grass produces its own food from sunlight.

Detailed explanation-4: -Most food chains consist of three or four trophic levels. A typical sequence may be plant, herbivore, carnivore, top carnivore; another sequence is plant, herbivore, parasite of the herbivore, and parasite of the parasite.