Mojave Desert Food Web
The life of the organisms in the Mojave Desert originates with the light and energy that the sun provides. In combination with the solar energy, rainfall, carbon, and nutrients the miracle of life begins with plants growing from seeds from the parent plant. Scientists refer to these plants as autotrophs, or producers because they make their own food energy by using the process of photosynthesis. A heterotroph cannot produce energy, and therefore are dependent on the producers and other herbivores to receive their source of energy. The first type of heterotroph is the primary consumer, which are the herbivore that eat only plants. These herbivores are one of the food sources of the omnivores, the secondary consumers, which consume plants and herbivores. Omnivores will also consume carnivores. Carnivores consume omnivores and other carnivores as their primary food sources.
The connections of each species within this cycle are the networks that scientists call the food chain, and connected food chains a food network or food web. Another important connection in this cycle is the process of energy passing from one organism to the next. This process is the energy flow, and the food web illustrates the energy flow among the organisms in the food chain for the Mojave Desert ecosystem.
The Pathways of Energy Flow
Scientists identify food chains and food webs as the pathways that energy and matter pass from each link in the chain beginning with the producers and distributing out to the consumers. As Simon, Reece, and Dickey (2010) note, “the feeding relationships among the various species in a community are referred to as its trophic structure. A community’s trophic structure determines the passage of energy and nutrients from plants and other photosynthetic organisms to herbivores and then to predators” (p. 432). The trophic level of