Question

What are trophic levels? How many trophic levels can a food chain have?

Answer 1

What are trophic levels

The word trophic derives from the Greek τροφή (trophē) referring to food or nourishment

A food chain represents a sequence of organisms that eat another organism and are, in turn, eaten themselves. The number of steps an organism is from the start of the chain is a measure of its trophic level

In the ecosystem engage some level of food chain which is known as trophic levels

Trophic level is the group of organisms in the postion it occupies in the food chain

How many trophic levels can a food chain have

There are five main trophic levels within a food chain and they are represented by numbers, starting at level 1 with plants and other trophic levels are numbered subsequently according to how far the organism is along the food chain.

Trophic level 1	Primary producers such as plants. Plants and algae make their own food and are called producers
Trophic level 2	Herbivores eat plants and are called primary consumers
Trophic level 3	Predators that eat herbivores are called secondary consumers
Trophic level 4	Carnivores eat other carnivores are called tertiary consumers
Trophic level 5	Apex predators that have no predators are at the top of the food chain.

                                                                                                   

The path along the chain can form either a one-way flow or a food "web

The three basic ways in which organisms get food are as producers, consumers and decomposers.

(autotrophs)	They are typically plants or algae. Plants and algae do not usually eat other organisms, but pull nutrients from the soil or the ocean and manufacture their own food using photosynthesis. For this reason, they are called primary producers. In this way, it is energy from the sun that usually powers the base of the food chain. An exception occurs in deep-sea hydrothermal ecosystems, where there is no sunlight. Here primary producers manufacture food through a process called chemosynthesis
Consumers	They cannot manufacture their own food and need to consume other organisms. Animals that eat primary producers (like plants) are called herbivores. Animals that eat other animals are called carnivores Animals that eat both plant and other animals are called omnivores
Decomposers	Break down dead plant and animal material and wastes and release it again as energy and nutrients into the ecosystem for recycling. Decomposers, such as bacteria and fungi (mushrooms), feed on waste and dead matter, converting it into inorganic chemicals that can be recycled as mineral nutrients for plants to use again.