54 2 Species Interaction Trophic levels Food Chain land and aquatic have these levels Producers make food through photosynthesis bottom of food chain Primary Consumers eat plants algae eat producers Secondary Consumers eat primary consumers Tertiary Consumers next level of consumers one species can be in more than one trophic level The more energy there is the more trophic levels there are The community can be influenced by the environment and interaction between species Ex The Pisaster starfish are the top predators in their system because they are mobile and they can eat basically anything In an experiment when the starfish were removed from the environment the number of species in the system plummeted This is because the starfish prey on mussels and without the starfish the mussel population was no longer controlled and they out competed every other species and took over The mussels prevented other species from surviving
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