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← How Nature Works in Harmony

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Lesson 4 of 14

Along the chain

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6 min

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Paddy, then a cricket, then a lizard. Which way does the arrow point?

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Paddy makes its own food. It is the first level.
Step 1 of 4
  1. Paddy makes its own food. It is the first level.
  2. A cricket eats paddy. It is the second level.
  3. A lizard eats the cricket. It is the third level.
  4. A kite eats the lizard. It is the fourth level.

The rule

The arrows point from paddy to cricket to lizard.

A food chain shows who eats whom. The arrow points from the food to the eater.

Each step in a chain is a trophic level. Producers are first. Herbivores are second. Carnivores are third or higher.

Count the living things at each level. There are usually most at the bottom and fewest at the top. Drawn as a stack, the counts make a pyramid.

Usually there are more paddy plants than rats, and more rats than owls.

Try the lab to finish this lesson.