What happens when green plants are eaten by primary consumers and which group of organisms form in the first trophic level of all food chains?
When green plants are consumed by the herbivores (primary consumers) most of the energy is liberated as heat to the environment, some amount goes into digestion and some energy used for growth and reproduction. Only 10% of the food eaten is turned into its own body and made available for the next level of consumers. Primary consumer- When primary consumers consume plants, 90% of the energy is lost as heat and undigested materials. They only have 10% of the energy. Green plants are called primary producers as they prepare their own food by the process of photosynthesis using sunlight, chlorophyll, water, and carbon dioxide. They are at the first level of the food chain as they are independent of their nutrition sources. Energy decreases as it moves up trophic levels because energy is lost as metabolic heat when the organisms from one trophic level are consumed by organisms from the next level. Trophic level transfer efficiency (TLTE) measures the amount of energy that is transferred between trophic levels. Since they are the base of the pyramid, the producers are the level within ecosystems that have the most energy available-followed by the primary consumers, secondary consumers, and then the tertiary consumers. Producers, also known as autotrophs, make their own food. They make up the first level of every food chain. Autotrophs are usually plants or one-celled organisms. Nearly all autotrophs use a process called photosynthesis to create “food” (a nutrient called glucose) from sunlight, carbon dioxide, and water.The first organism or first link in the food chain is a producer. Producers are plants; they can be grasses, fruits, trees, vegetables, or ocean algae and other aquatic plants. These organisms are called producers because they produce energy themselves with help from the Sun. A food chain always starts with a producer, which is an organism that makes food. This is usually a green plant, because plants can make their own food by photosynthesis. Every food chain starts with producers because only plants are capable of changing light energy into chemical energy, which is then used by both plants and other consumers.
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