<P> The trophic level of an organism is the position it occupies in a food chain . A food chain is a succession of organisms that eat other organisms and may, in turn, be eaten themselves . The trophic level of an organism is the number of steps it is from the start of the chain . A food chain starts at trophic level 1 with primary producers such as plants, can move to herbivores at level 2, predators at level 3 and typically finish with carnivores or apex predators at level 4 or 5 . The path along the chain can form either a one - way flow or a food "web". Ecological communities with higher biodiversity form more complex trophic paths . </P> <P> The word trophic derives from the Greek τροφή (trophē) referring to food or nourishment . </P> <P> The concept of trophic level was developed by Raymond Lindeman (1942), based on the terminology of August Thienemann (1926): "producers", "consumers" and "reducers" (modified to "decomposers" by Lindeman). </P>

Explain the role of first tropic level in ecosystem