food chain
Ecology. a series of organisms interrelated in their feeding habits, the smallest being fed upon by a larger one, which in turn feeds a still larger one, etc.
the chain from a food source to the ultimate consumer.
a hierarchy ranked by status, importance, influence, etc.: people who are high up on the political and media food chain.
Origin of food chain
1Words Nearby food chain
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2024
How to use food chain in a sentence
Besides making Earth warm enough to be habitable, it gives plants the energy they need for photosynthesis, forming a crucial piece of the food chain.
Scientists Want to Fight Climate Change by Blocking the Sun With Dust | Vanessa Bates Ramirez | January 28, 2021 | Singularity HubWithout them, their prey populations would soar, decreasing availability of plants and animals down the food chain.
Wild red wolves hanging on but more cooperation needed to save the species | Ann Cameron Siegal | January 26, 2021 | Washington PostMany fast food chains have introduced plant-based options in recent years, but most of these have been partnerships with Impossible Foods or Beyond Meat.
The McPlant is coming. McDonald’s won’t name its supplier, but all signs point to Beyond Meat. | Tim Carman | November 10, 2020 | Washington PostOver the past couple of years, basically every fast food chain has released a meatless burger.
McDonald’s Is Seriously Naming Its Plant-Based Burger ‘McPlant’ | Jaya Saxena | November 9, 2020 | EaterThey can end up in the food chain, showing up in animals big and small.
Polluting microplastics harm both animals and ecosystems | Alison Pearce Stevens | November 3, 2020 | Science News For Students
I lived somewhere in the middle of the food chain—an involuntary humility, which remains the emotional posture behind reason.
Now Burger King, the iconic fast-food chain long based in Miami, is joining the rush.
Burger King Invades Canada to Save His Faltering Kingdom | Daniel Gross | August 26, 2014 | THE DAILY BEASTThe food chain is disrupted as seagrass and other plants die, in turn killing off animal populations that rely on them.
Australia Wants to Open the Great Barrier Reef to Dumping | Kirsten Alexander | June 2, 2014 | THE DAILY BEASTBecoming the majority owner, therefore, requires being at absolute top of the food chain.
Oprah’s One of the Few People Rich Enough—And Safe Enough—to Buy the Clippers | Robert Silverman | May 1, 2014 | THE DAILY BEASTThere will even be a giant aquarium on site featuring Mediterranean food chain fish.
The contest had been sponsored by—of all outfits—a big food chain, Trans-Columbia.
The Planet Strappers | Raymond Zinke Gallun
British Dictionary definitions for food chain
ecology a sequence of organisms in an ecosystem in which each species is the food of the next member of the chain
informal the hierarchy in an organization or society
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012
Scientific definitions for food chain
[ fōōd ]
The sequence of the transfer of food energy from one organism to another in an ecological community. A food chain begins with a producer, usually a green plant or alga that creates its own food through photosynthesis. In the typical predatory food chain, producers are eaten by primary consumers (herbivores) which are eaten by secondary consumers (carnivores), some of which may in turn be eaten by tertiary consumers (the top carnivore in the chain).♦ Many species of animals in an ecological community feed on both plants and animals and thus play multiple roles in the chain. Parasites feed on living tissues, generally without killing their hosts, and may themselves be hosts to smaller parasites. In addition, organisms that die without being eaten are consumed by detritivores, some of which serve as prey for other consumers. The complex system of interrelated food chains in an environment is known as a food web. See more at trophic level.
The American Heritage® Science Dictionary Copyright © 2011. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.
Cultural definitions for food chain
The series of steps by which energy is obtained, used, and transformed by living things. For example: sunlight helps grain to grow, the grain feeds cattle, and humans eat the cattle.
Notes for food chain
The New Dictionary of Cultural Literacy, Third Edition Copyright © 2005 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.
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