88 



ECOLOGY 



Part II 



dead animals 



Food- web on Bear Island in the Arctic zone. (Sinriplified from 

 Elton.) The arrows are read as "eaten by/ e.g./bacteria — ► 

 protozoa" means bacteria are eaten by protozoa. 



Fig. 5.20. In food webs the successive eaters are usually larger, e.g., insect, 

 ptarmigan, fox, but fierceness, cunning or group action may take the place of size, 

 e.g., in army ants, wolves, and wild dogs. (Reprinted from Readings In Ecology 

 by Ralph Buchsbaum, by permission of The University of Chicago Press. Copy- 

 right 1937.) 



literally what eats which in a community of animals or of animals and plants. 

 Plant-eating animals are the basis of any community; they serve as food for 

 the small carnivores which are in turn eaten by the larger ones. Such a series 

 of food links is a food chain. In a pond bacteria and unicellular plants are the 



