What is the difference between food chains and food pyramids

Kate M. Nov 29, Explanation: A food chain is the most basic representation of what organisms consume what. Asaf B. Jun 6, The food web is more accurate way to describe the food relationships. Explanation: The food chain is only a branch of the entire web and it fails to show that most of the animals get eaten and eat more than one species. Related questions What herbivores live in the rainforest? A Food chain is basically a linear network of connections in a food web starting from producer organisms or an order of events in an ecosystem where one living organism eats another organism.

This consists of trophic levels which have four major parts are as follows:. Sun - It is considered as the major source of food for making food, growth, and development. Producers - These include green plants and it is the first stage in a food chain. Consumers - These are those organisms that eat different organisms. This is considered to be the largest part of the food web in the ecosystem.

Decomposers - These are those organisms that get energy from dead or waste organic material. There are two types of the food chain which are as follows :. Detritus Food Chain - This food chain includes different kinds of species of organisms and plants like algae, bacteria, fungi, protozoa, mites, insects, worms, and so on. This food chain begins with dead organic material. The consumed energy passes into composers and detritivores which are eaten by smaller organisms like carnivores.

Grazing Food Chain - This food chain starts with green plants and passes through herbivores and then to carnivores. In this food chain, the lowest trophic level acquires energy from photosynthesis.

This comprises a number of several interconnected food chains form a food web. Example: Food pyramid : More commonly known as an energy pyramid , a food pyramid takes the food chain but uses it to show how energy moves through a community. Example: Because each organism uses some of the energy it received from the previous level for growth and other processes, the energy available to the next level is less because some of that energy has been used.

Related questions If the producer biomass in an ecosystem is kg per hectare, what is the approximate primary What is an energy pyramid? Where do decomposers and detritivores go on the energy pyramid?

What is the difference between the two? Why do food chains rarely have more than four trophic levels? Furthermore, the fFood chain is a linear diagram while the food pyramid is a triangular diagram. So, this is also a difference between food chain and food pyramid.

Moreover, a further difference between food chain and food pyramid is that the food chain shows the energy flow and feeding patterns in different organisms while the food pyramid shows the amount of food needed. Below is an infographic on the difference between food chain and food pyramid that explains the differences in detail.. Food chains and food pyramids are important in nutritional biology.

The energy flow is an important component in both the food chain and the food pyramid. Available here 2. Simplified, Learning.

Available here. Samanthi Udayangani holds a B. Degree in Plant Science, M. Your email address will not be published.