A generalized model of energy flow (Heal and Maclean, 1975) provides a complete description file trophic structure of a community (Fig. 4.5a). Besides the grazer system pyramid of productivity, t kits two additional elements. A decomposer system and subcomponents of each trophic level, a distinction is made between vertebrate and invertebrate types, between detritivores and microbes which belong to the [...]
Succession refers to change in a community following either physical or biological disturbance, when a farmland is abandoned, a forest develops after a series of temporary communities. In a sense we may think of such temporary communities as developmental stages analogous to the life history stages through which many organisms pass before reaching adulthood. The concept of succession was largely [...]
Food Chain: This is defined as a series of organisms through which the food energy is transferred. In other words, the transfer of food from the plants through herbivores to carnivores is referred to as the food chain. Each organism in the series feeds and derives energy from the preceding one, as shown in the following simple linear food chain [...]