The forest food chain works in a complex way. It begins with the producer and goes through the different levels of consumers: primary, secondary and tertiary. On the one hand, vegetables drop leaves, fruits or flowers; on the other hand, the animals eliminate matter or die, and these remains fall to the ground and decompose.
This amount of dead organic matter, together with other types of elements such as logs, feathers and animal excrement, form a bed.
The species that live on the floor, among which there is a large biomass of worms, feed on this bed; To do this, they subdivide it into small portions. The remaining organic matter is used as food by fungi, bacteria and other microorganisms.
Stages in the forest food chain
Organisms that feed on organic matter are called decomposers, because they transform complex organic molecules into simple nutrients.
These nutrients, in the form of phosphates, nitrates and potassium, are absorbed by the roots of the plants.
Water, mineral salts and nutrients are absorbed by the plants and reach the leaves. Photosynthesis occurs in leaves, thanks to the energy of the sun and carbon dioxide (CO 2).
Every season the process repeats itself. The fall of new leaves, fruits or flowers, restore the elements taken by the roots on the floor. When the temperature is high, the process is accelerated, the forest recycles the nutrients and fertilizes itself.
When the forest is mature there is great competition for resources, and there are a variety of ecological niches (forms of behavior of the species, originated by the space in which they inhabit and their interaction with other specimens).
These niches create very complex food chains. Part of this complexity is reflected in the fact that the animals that are in the last links of the chain, such as bears and wolves, are those that are in danger of extinction.
Producers and consumers
Within an ecosystem it can be observed that there are living beings that can subsist without the existence of others. An example of these beings are plants. These fulfill production functions.
Vegetables contain chlorophyll, and thanks to that they carry out a chemical reaction with solar energy, called photosynthesis. In this way they make their own food. For this reason they are called autotrophs.
Animals need other organisms to feed themselves, since they do not process their food by themselves. These are considered consumers.
Some animals eat plants (herbivores), and others hunt other animals for their subsistence (carnivores).
There is a third group that eats both vegetables and animals (the omnivores). Organisms that cannot make their own food are called heterotrophs.
The food chain is made up of living organisms, so that one consumes the one that precedes him in the chain. And then it is eaten by the one who follows.
Example
A plant is eaten by ants, this in turn is eaten by a toad, which in turn is eaten by a snake. The plant is the producing organism, the ant is the primary consumer, the toad the secondary and the snake the tertiary.
That is, vegetables are the beginning of the food chain, and they are called producers.
The next link is made up of consumers, who can be primary, secondary or tertiary according to their place in the chain.
References
- "Food chains" in Biological Sciences and Health Education. Recovered in September 2017 from Biological Sciences and Health Education at: hnncbiol.blogspot.com.ar
- "Food chains and food webs" in KhanAcademy. Recovered in September 2017 from KhanAcademy at: es.khanacademy.org
- "Forest Food Chain" on Scribd. Recovered in September 2017 from Scribd at: es.scribd.com
- "Food chain of the pine forest" in Course of ecosystems and public policies. Retrieved in September 2017 from the Course on ecosystems and public policies at: unicamp.br