trophic

¹

[trof-ik, troh-fik]

adjective

1. of or relating to nutrition; concerned in nutritive processes.

-trophic

²

1. a combining form with the meanings “having nutritional habits or requirements” of the kind specified by the initial element (autotrophic ), “affecting the activity of, maintaining” that specified (gonadotrophic ) (in this sense often interchangeable with-tropic ); also forming adjectives corresponding to nouns ending in -troph or -trophy (hypertrophic ).

trophic

/ ˈtrɒfɪk /

adjective

1. of or relating to nutrition

   the trophic levels of a food chain

trophic

1. Relating to the feeding habits of different organisms in a food chain or web.

Other Word Forms

• trophically adverb

Word History and Origins

Origin of trophic¹

First recorded in 1870–75, trophic is from the Greek word trophikós pertaining to food. See tropho-, -ic

Origin of trophic²

trophic

Word History and Origins

Origin of trophic¹

C19: from Greek trophikos , from trophē food, from trephein to feed

Example Sentences

Some researchers have reported that ibogaine may be able to help repair areas of the brain by increasing levels of molecules called trophic factors that encourage brain cells to foster new connections, said Kratter, the Stanford researcher.

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Investigations on phytoplankton are hereby most crucial, since changes at the basis of the food web can impact all higher trophic levels, all the way up to fisheries.

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The wolves’ return and predatory dominance was believed to have had a widespread effect known as a trophic cascade, by decreasing grazing and restoring and expanding forests, grasses and other wildlife.

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“I would say it’s exaggerated, greatly exaggerated,” said Thomas Hobbs, a professor of natural resource ecology at Colorado State University and the lead author of a long-term study that adds new fuel to the debate over whether Yellowstone experienced a trophic cascade.

Read more on New York Times

"Dogs can contribute to the extinction of vertebrate species, can imbalance the trophic dynamics amongst predator guilds and even have the potential to collapse entire ecological communities," he continues.

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When To Use

What does -trophic mean?

The combining form -trophic is used like a suffix for a variety of meanings, including "having nutritional habits or requirements." In other words, the sense of -trophic specifies how an organism gets its nutrition or how it feeds.The combining form -trophic is also used as an adjective form of nouns ending with -troph or -trophy. In some cases, -trophic means "affecting the activity of, maintaining." In this sense, it is often synonymous with -tropic.The combining form -trophic is often used in scientific terms, especially in biology and anatomy. It comes from the Greek trophikós, meaning “pertaining to food.”Corresponding forms of -trophic combined to the beginning of words are tropho- and troph-.Want to know more? Read our Words That Use -troph, -trophy, tropho-, and troph- articles.