A position in a food chain or food web that indicates how many energy transfer steps an organism is from the primary energy source. Each level represents a different feeding position, from producers to various levels of consumers.
From Greek 'trophikos' meaning 'of or pertaining to nutrition' and 'level' from Old French 'livel.' The concept was developed in ecology in the early 20th century to understand energy flow in ecosystems.
Only about 10% of energy transfers from one trophic level to the next, which is why there are rarely more than 4-5 levels in any ecosystem! This energy loss explains why large predators are so rare compared to plants and small herbivores.
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