Question

Living organisms depend on each other for their food requirement and form a chain this is termed as

Answer 1

Hint: The chain by which the organisms are connected in the basis of their food requirements, represent the flow of energy through different trophic levels. Starting from plants or other autotrophs known as the producer level, flowing upwards to higher levels which involve the consumers, the consumers are mostly heterotrophic in nature.

Complete answer:
The process by which living organisms depend on each other for their food requirements and form a chain is known as the food chain. It always starts with producers, who are autotrophic organisms and end with the decomposers, who are the microorganisms. Through the food chain, the energy flow in the different trophic levels can be assessed. The producer level is mostly plants or trees, which makes its own food materials using various raw materials and sunlight. The consumer levels are various heterotrophic species constituted by herbivores such as deer and rabbits as the primary consumers which feed directly on the plants, and later the primary consumers are fed on by the secondary consumers including predators including tigers and lions. The chain comes to an end with detritivores such as earthworms and saprophytic decomposers such as fungi and bacteria. The energy passed on from one trophic level decreases at each successive level, and only 10 percent of the total energy of the previous levels are passed onto the next level. The remaining 90 per cent energy is lost in the form of heat.

Note: The energy flow in an ecosystem can also be depicted through a food web. Unlike the food chain, it is a more complex arrangement. A food web is composed of several related food chains, where energy flows in between different food chains at various trophic levels.