Parasitic Food Chain

Introduction

In ecology, the sequence of transfers of materials and energy in the form of food from one organism to the next is referred to as the food chain. Because most species feed more than one type of animal or plant, food chains intersect locally to form a food web. The primary food source is photosynthesis, which converts solar energy into food.

The energy consumed first by primary producers determines the efficiency of a food chain. The producer provides the principal consumer with energy. The tertiary consumer, or number four in the food chain, is the third.  

Parasitism is a close relationship between species in which one organism, the parasite, lives on or inside the host, harming it, and has structurally evolved to this lifestyle. In the grazing food chain, parasites affect plants and animals. Parasites rely on their hosts for energy.

Pyramid and the Level of the Organism

A food pyramid is a diagram that depicts the energy loss from one trophic level to the next. The ecological pyramid is another name for it. The energy contained in the food organism is transferred to the consumer when one organism consumes another.

C.E. Elton proposed the concept of ecological pyramids (1927). Ecological pyramids come in a variety of shapes and sizes. The producer level is at the bottom of each ecological pyramid, with subsequent layers rising to the top. The following three types of pyramidal relationships can be discovered among species at various levels in the ecosystem:

1. The number of organisms in a pyramid
2. Biomass pyramid of organisms
3. The Energy Pyramid of Organisms

Pyramid of numbers- The pyramid of numbers depicts the total number of organisms at every trophic level. The shape of the pyramid is inverted in a parasitic food chain. This is since the number of producers is low, while the number of primary consumers (herbivores) is higher. After that, secondary consumers such as carnivores appear.

The majority of individual organisms are found at the top trophic level of the pyramid known as hyperparasites. A parasitic food chain, on the other hand, has a huge number of bacteria and fungi. 

Pyramid of energy- An energy pyramid, also known as a trophic or ecological pyramid, is a graphical representation of the energy found within the ecosystem’s trophic tiers. The producers are at the bottom and top of the pyramid, and they hold the most energy. The energy pyramid is the only type of ecological pyramid that is always upright since energy transmission is always unidirectional in a food chain. Furthermore, energy is lost to the environment as the trophic level rises.                                        

Example

1. Herbivores feed producers, which are then infected with parasites, which are then consumed by hyperparasites.
2. Another example of a parasitic food chain starts when fruit-eating birds consume trees. These birds eat worms and other insects later. These insects eat bacteria and fungi, which are minute organisms.

Conclusion

The parasitic food chain begins with a herbivore, but food energy is transferred from larger creatures to smaller organisms without killing in the event of a predator. A tiny creature consumes a portion of a larger host and may be parasitized by even smaller species in a parasite chain. The parasitic food chain is also known as the auxiliary food chain.