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Biology · Glossary

What is Food chain?

Also known as: is eaten by · link

Definition 19.1 Primary & Middle School Biology · Chapter 19 — Food Chains

A food chain is a line of living things in which each one is eaten by the next. It is written with arrows, each arrow meaning “is eaten by”:

grass⟶grasshopper⟶lizard⟶buzzard.\text{grass} \longrightarrow \text{grasshopper} \longrightarrow \text{lizard} \longrightarrow \text{buzzard}.

Each living thing is a link of the chain.

The meadow chain’s last link on patrol: the buzzard’s afternoon depends, three links down, on how green the grass grew.
The meadow chain’s last link on patrol: the buzzard’s afternoon depends, three links down, on how green the grass grew.

Examples

Example 19.4 (Chains from three habitats)

In the pond: water plants →\rightarrow tadpole →\rightarrow dragonfly larva →\rightarrow stickleback →\rightarrow heron. In the forest: oak leaves →\rightarrow caterpillar →\rightarrow blue tit →\rightarrow sparrowhawk. In the garden: salad →\rightarrow snail →\rightarrow hedgehog. First link: always green.

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