Food chains and predator prey cycles

• Food chain


  Representation of feeding relationships within a community
• Food chain


  • Starts with a producer
  • Producer is a green plant or algae
  • Producers synthesize complex molecules like glucose
• Producer


  Source of all biomass in the community
• Primary consumer


  Organism that eats the producer
• Secondary consumer


  Organism that eats the primary consumer
• Tertiary consumer


  Organism that eats the secondary consumer
• Predator


  Animal that kills and eats other animals
• Prey


  Animal that is killed and eaten by a predator
• Predator and prey populations

  Rise and fall in cycles
• Predator-prey cycles only occur in stable communities where all biotic and abiotic factors are in balance
• Changes in the community, like a drought or new predator, can disrupt predator-prey cycles