food chain

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In ecology, a sequence showing the feeding relationships between organisms in a habitat or ecosystem. It shows who eats whom. An organism in one food chain can belong to other food chains. This can be shown in a diagram called a food web.

One of the most important aspects of food is that it provides energy for an organism. So a food chain shows where each organism gets its energy. The arrow in a food chain represents the direction of energy flow. Not all of the energy in all of the organisms at one step of a food chain is available to the organisms later in the chain. In general, fewer organisms are found at each step, or trophic level, of the chain. A pyramid of numbers shows this clearly. Some organisms may be small but very numerous, so population size may not be a good measure of how much of an organism there is in a habitat. Biomass – the total mass of organisms in an area – may be a more useful measure.

Blue represents the sky and the sea. Yellow symbolizes the sun which gives light and life. Red reflects the people and their determination to work in the future in unity and love. White stands for justice and harmony. Green recalls the land and nature. Effective date: 8 January 1996. >>