Since at least two species are involved, an interaction can be defined in terms of the plusses and minuses in the interaction to those two species (Table 1). These interactions will have either a negative (–), positive (+), or neutral (0) consequence for each of the two (or more) species, and thereby have extremely important consequences for the ecology, adaptations, and evolutionary history of all organisms. Most primates are omnivores, although there are several groups of primates that have adaptations for pure herbivory (e.g., Colobinae, Alouatta spp.) or carnivory (e.g., Tarsius spp.).īecause species are inextricably linked to each other in food webs, communities are best understood as an assemblage of species interactions of who is eating whom. Animals that eat food from more than one trophic level are called omnivores. Carnivores can also consume carnivores and occupy the forth trophic level, and so on. Secondary consumers represent the third trophic level, consume herbivores, and are called carnivores. Primary consumers occupy the second trophic level and are plant-consuming animals - herbivores. Plants are thus called producers because they are the basis upon which heterotrophic organisms exist - organisms known as consumers. The first trophic level comprises plants ( autotrophs) that utilize solar energy by converting carbon dioxide into organic compounds, especially sugars, in a process known as photosynthesis. An organism's position in this web is described as its trophic level (Figure 1). Essentially, food webs are the sum of all predator-prey interactions at work in an assemblage, and are a depiction of how solar-derived energy moves among species. The position a species occupies in a food web is a central determinant of its interactions with other species.
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