trophic level

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Diagram illustrating energy flow through ecosystem trophic levels, showing energy from the sun absorbed by producers (plants), then transferred to a rabbit (primary consumer), a snake (secondary consumer), and an eagle (tertiary consumer), with energy loss as heat at each step.

What is a trophic cascade?

Diagram showing energy transfer through an ecosystem, with solar energy absorbed by plants (producers) at the base, then moving up to herbivores (primary consumers), small carnivores (secondary consumers), and large carnivores (tertiary consumers), while most energy is lost as heat at each step.

An energy pyramid diagram showing four levels: producers like grass at the base, primary consumers such as rabbits above, secondary consumers like snakes next, and a tertiary consumer, an eagle, at the top. Arrows indicate energy transfer upward and energy loss at each level.

How an ecosystem works: Producers, herbivores, and carnivores

trophic level: References & Edit History

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Article History

Type	Description	Contributor	Date
	Invalidated site: PNAS - Eating up the world?s food web and the human trophic level.	Emily Rodriguez	Oct 01, 2026
	Add new Web site: BMC - Microbiome - Trophic level drives the host microbiome of soil invertebrates at a continental scale.	Grace Young	Feb 22, 2025
	Add new Web site: Nature - Nature Communications - Biodiversity across trophic levels drives multifunctionality in highly diverse forests.	Yamini Chauhan	Dec 24, 2024
	Add new Web site: Al-Mustaqbal University - Trophic Level.	Grace Young	Sep 05, 2024
	Add new Web site: PNAS - Eating up the world?s food web and the human trophic level.	Gloria Lotha	Jul 11, 2024
	Add new Web site: University of Michigan - Introduction to Global Change - The Flow of Energy from Primary Production to Higher Tropic Levels.	Gloria Lotha	Nov 21, 2023
	Media added.	Meg Matthias	Jul 31, 2023
	Add new Web site: Khan Academy - Trophic levels.	Gloria Lotha	Mar 04, 2023
	Add new Web site: Biology LibreTexts - Trophic Levels.	Gloria Lotha	Feb 14, 2022
	Corrected display issue.	John P. Rafferty	Aug 23, 2018
	Media revised.	Adam Augustyn	Sep 29, 2016
	Added new Web site: British Broadcasting Corporation - Trophic levels.	Shiveta Singh	Apr 07, 2009
	Added new Web site: University of the Western Cape - Trophic levels.	Shiveta Singh	Apr 07, 2009
	Added new Web site: University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point - Trophic Levels and Food Chains.	Shiveta Singh	Apr 07, 2009
	Trophic level diagram highlighting producers and consumers added.	John P. Rafferty	Jan 21, 2009
	Article added to new online database.	The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica	Jul 20, 1998