Question

Trophic levels are formed by
A. Only plants
B. Only animals
C. Only carnivores
D. Organisms linked in the food chain

Answer 1

Hint: Trophic levels involve all the plants and animals including the producers, consumers, and the decomposers present in an ecosystem.

Complete answer:
Trophic levels are the position of an organism in a food web. The trophic level of an organism can be known by the number of steps where it is present at the start of the food chain. It consists of all the organisms that are found in a food chain.

Additional Information:
-A food chain or a food web starts from the primary producers like plants which is the trophic level 1.
-The second trophic level consists of herbivores.
-The third trophic level has carnivores which are higher organisms.
-The last trophic level constitutes predators.
-The food chains are a one-way flow of energy while the food web is directed in all directions.
-The trophic level of all species varies depending upon the type of ecosystem.
-The energy is transferred from one trophic level to another in a food chain.
-The lowest trophic level will have the highest amount of energy in comparison to the higher trophic level.
-The producers are the organism which produces their own food while the consumers are dependent on them for nutrition.
So, the correct answer is ‘Organisms linked in the food chain’.

Note: The word trophic was derived from a Greek word trophe meaning ‘food’ or ‘nourishment’. The concept of the trophic level was proposed by Raymond Lindeman in 1942. The trophic level concept is based on producers, carnivores, and reducers which is later called decomposers. These various terms were coined by August Theinemann in 1926.