The concept of trophic level was developed by Raymond Lindeman (1942), based on the terminology of See more

The three basic ways in which organisms get food are as producers, consumers, and decomposers.
• Producers (autotrophs) are typically plants or algae. Plants and algae do not usually eat other or… See more

In general, each trophic level relates to the one below it by absorbing some of the energy it consumes, and in this way can be regarded as resting on, or supported by, the next lower trophic level. Food chains can be diag… See more

Both the number of trophic levels and the complexity of relationships between them evolve as life diversifies through time, the exception being intermittent mass extinction events. See more

Food webs largely define ecosystems, and the trophic levels define the position of organisms within the webs. But these trophic levels are not always simple integers, because organisms often feed at more than … See more

In fisheries, the mean trophic level for the fisheries catch across an entire area or ecosystem is calculated for year y as:
where is the annual catch of the species or group i in year y, and is the trophic level for species i a… See more