trophic
- adjective
- /ˈtroʊfɪk/
- Specialized
- We chose indicators representing three trophic levels: primary producers, zooplankton, and fish.
- trophic levels
- trophic cascade
- trophic structure
And you mentioned a minute ago these trophic eggs that some Ant Queens lay.
- And you mentioned a minute ago these trophic eggs that some Ant Queens lay.
Examples
-
The multicellular organisms representing higher trophic levels are generally low in diversity and abundance.
Academic text (1999) -
The benthic and pelagic invertebrate communities are also not species-rich, although their trophic diversity is similar to that found in temperate lakes.
Academic text (1999) -
How will climate change affect species' ranges across multiple trophic levels?
Academic text (2001) -
Lake trophic structure is a result of complex interactions among consumers and their resources.
Academic text (1999) -
Thus, benthic-pelagic coupling is not well integrated into the current understanding of lake trophic dynamics.
Academic text (1999) -
According to this model, a cause-and-effect chain of resource limitation is transmitted up the trophic chain.
Academic text (2002) -
Similarly, selective feeding by aboveground predators could affect the diversity of belowground animals through top-down trophic effects.
Academic text (2000) -
Thus, the Sevilleta NWR Peromyscus population increase in 1993 appeared to be in concordance with the trophic cascade hypothesis.
Academic text (2002) -
Although these groups were heterogeneous, the three nutritional modes that characterized the trophic levels were conceptually clear-cut and represented three major directions of evolution.
Academic text (2012) -
The study focused on the trophic interactions between plants and herbivores in the ecosystem.
Surface Forms
Morphology
trophic = troph + ic
The suffix '-ic' meaning 'relating to' is regular, but the root 'troph-' is a specialized combining form (not a standalone English word) so the meaning is only partly guessable to average learners.
Etymology
Trophic comes from the Greek root troph meaning 'nourishment' or 'food', as in atrophy where lack of food or use makes part of the body waste away. So trophic describes things to do with feeding or nutrition, which is why we talk about 'trophic levels' in a food chain.