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It is not thropic (which does not mean anything) but trophic, which means "food". The trophic level of an organism relates to its position in the food web of the ecosystem in which it lives.

Primary producers (plants, phytoplankton and other organisms that convert sunlight or some other source of energy into living material) occupy the first trophic level.

Herbivores (animals that live on primary producers) occupy the second level.

Predators (animals that eat herbivores or other predators) occupy the third level, though predators that eat predators might be thought of as occupying the fourth.

Organisms like parasites and decomposers sit uncomfortably in this system. In fact in most real ecosystems, the trophic links (who eats whom) often make it difficult to decide what trophic "level" an organism might be on. What level is a chimp that eats a flea that was feeding on another chimp who has just eaten a monkey that ate a fledgling bird that ate a caterpillar that ate a grass blade growing on a decomposing mushroom...

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14y ago

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