Food Chain: A linear sequence of organisms that exist on successive trophic levels within a natural community, through which energy is transferred by feeding. Primary producers capture energy from the environment (through photo- or chemo-synthesis) and form the base of the food chain. Energy is then passed to primary consumers (herbivores) and on to secondary and tertiary consumers (carnivores and top carnivores) (e.g. Phytoplankton -> zooplankton -> herring -> salmon -> killer whales). Once they die, these organisms are in turn consumed and their energy transferred to detrivores and decomposers. Compare food web.

 

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Food Chain: The simplest representation of energy fiow in a community. At the base is energy stored in plants, which are eaten by small organisms, which in turn are eaten by progressively larger organis . . . View Full Definition

Food Web: A complex network of feeding interrelations among species in a natural ecosystem; more accurate and more complex depiction of energy fiow than a food chain.

Food Security: Access by all people at all times to enough food for an active healthy life. Food security at a minimum includes the ready availability of nutritionally adequate and safe food, and an assure . . . View Full Definition

Food Safety Initiative: A 1997 interagency initiative among the Food and Drug Administration, Center For Disease Control, Environmental Protection Agency, and U.S. Department of Agriculture to implement a series of . . . View Full Definition