Concept in Definition ABC

The concept of a food web is one that is applied to the natural phenomenon through which different living beings are connected to each other from the cycle of life that implies that some feed on others in order to subsist. The word trophic comes from the Greek language in which it is trophos, which means food. Thus, a web or food chain is a union of different links that join from the consumption to survive. Since no one feeds solely or especially on the human being, it is usually placed at the end of the trophic network since it, being omnivorous, consumes all kinds of living beings and none depends on it for subsist.

The food web has several points that are more or less repeated in all cases, although with variations. The beginning of any network or food chain is the one occupied by plants of all kinds. These living beings, being autotrophs, that is, by producing their own food, are the first links in the chain since other living beings depend on them to feed themselves. Plants, vegetables and trees are autotrophs since they take natural elements such as

Water, the light or the dioxide of carbon to transform them into food that they process inside. Thus, plants, by living by their own means, allow those herbivorous animals to also feed themselves and continue to subsist.

Herbivores are usually the second link of all trophic web since they are those that consume the plants, reason for which they must be located in the place immediately afterwards. These animals (such as horses, zebras, antelopes, cows or buffalo) are followed by carnivorous animals, those that eat meat (for example, the Lion, the tiger, the wolf, the bear). Exclusively carnivorous animals are then ranked third, although a food chain may have several carnivorous links (for example when in the ocean the larger fish feed on the smaller fish which in turn feed on other fish). The human being is placed at the end of the network, being able to consume as food any of the previous elements in an inclusive or exclusive way depending on his diet.

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