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Text File  |  1992-09-03  |  648b  |  16 lines
  1. In ecology, the sequence of organisms through
  2. which energy and other nutrients are
  3. successively transferred. Since many
  4. organisms feed at several different levels
  5. (for example, omnivores feed on both fruit
  6. and meat), the relationships often form a
  7. complex web rather than a simple chain. See
  8. also ecosystem and heterotroph. The sequence
  9. of the food chain comprises the autotrophs,
  10. or primary producers, principally plants and
  11. photosynthetic microorganisms; the herbivores
  12. that feed on them; the carnivores that feed
  13. on the herbivores; and the decomposers that
  14. break down the dead bodies and waste products
  15. of all three groups, ready for recycling.
  16.