Food chain

A food chain may be defined as the transfer of energy and nutrients through a succession of organisms through repeated process of eating and being eaten. In food chain initial link is a green plant or producer which produces chemical energy available to consumers. For example, a marsh grass is consumed by grasshopper, the grasshopper is consumed by a bird and that bird is consumed by hawk. Thus, a food chain is formed, which can be written as follows:

Food chains are of three types:

a) Predator chain: Which starts from plant and goes from smaller to larger animals.

b) Parasitic chain: It goes from large to smaller organisms.

c) Saprophytic chain: It goes from dead matter to microorganisms. The energy contained in this detritus is not lost to the ecosystems as a whole, but it serves as the source of energy for a group of organisms. This type of food chain is called detritus food chain.