The
trophic level of an
organism is the position it occupies in a
food chain. The word trophic derives from the
Greek (trophe) referring to food or feeding. A food chain represents a succession of organisms that eat another organism and are, in turn, eaten themselves. The number of steps an organism is from the start of the chain is a measure of its trophic level. Food chains start at trophic level 1 with
primary producers such as plants, move to
herbivores at level 2,
predators at level 3 and typically finish with
carnivores or
apex predators at level 4 or 5. The path along the chain can form either a one-way flow or a food "web". Ecological communities with higher biodiversity form more complex trophic paths.