Secondary consumers: What are and examples

Within the secondary consumers We found carnivorous or omnivorous speciesthat is, heterotrophic animals. Heterotrophic animals are those that to obtain energy feed on organic matter. This organic matter obtained by feeding on primary consumers such as small rodents, herbivorous birds, small amphibians, among others. Some Characteristics of secondary consumers are:

• They can be both carnivorous and omnivorous secondary consumers.
• Within the trophic levels they constitute the third, since the base or first are the decomposers, then there are primary consumers in the second level and then secondary consumers in the third level. We recommend you read this other post about trophic levels: which are, what are and examples.
• They control the population of primary consumers.
• They provide energy to tertiary consumers.

What are secondary consumers? Next, we will show examples of food chains, food chains or trophic chainshighlighting secondary consumers.

• ¿The lion is a secondary or tertiary consumer? The truth is that it feeds mainly of herbivorous mammals, that is, primary consumers, so it can be considered a second order, but sometimes other carnivores are also eaten, which also makes it tertiary. In fact, it is one of the best known secondary consumers. An example of the lion in the second level of consumers could be when it feeds on zebra, as it feeds on different types of herbs.
• The cats They are also secondary consumers since they feed on mice, and there are herbivorous mice that feed only on plants. There are also omnivorous mice that feed on insects, worms or snails, which feed on plants. In this case the mouse would be the secondary consumer and the cat would become a tertiary consumer.
• With The owls The same thing happens, since sometimes it can be secondary consumers and other times become tertiary consumers. They feed on mice, small fish, insects, lizards and other animals.
• Pumas and Jaguares As carnivorous secondary consumers they get part of their food, feeding on sheep and these pastures. When the Pumas and Jaguars die these are decomposed by fungi and bacteria.
• The religious mantis It is also part of secondary consumers since they feed on butterflies and these of the flower nectar.
• Carnivorous mice They are secondary consumers since they feed on snails and in turn snails feed on plants. Mice are food for snakes.
• The deer are primary consumers who feed on grass and plants and, in turn, these are prey to The wolves, bears, tigers and leopardsamong other carnivores who are second -order consumers.
• The fox It is a secondary consumer, feeds on animals such as deer or rabbits, and these last two are herbivores animals, primary consumers inside the trophic chain.
• The player beetle feeds on excrement and this is prevented by lizards and lizardswhich are food for some mammals.
• The smallest birds feed on spiders and these of bees that consume the nectar found in the flowers. In this case Spiders They would be the secondary consumer and the birds would be part of the tertiary consumers.
• The marine phytoplankton is consumed by the zooplankton and this feeds small mollusks that will be predated by medium -sized fish. The small mollusks In this food chain, marine secondary consumers would be.

Here you can discover more examples of chains and trophic networks: what are and examples.

For this, three key aspects would have to occur:

• Increase the number of producers so that there is sufficient food to supply all primary consumers.
• In addition, and thanks to the increase in producers, I would have to Increase the number of primary consumers. Thus, if there are enough producers, the number of primary consumers will also grow.
• Another factor that should be given is the decrease in tertiary consumerswhich are the predators of secondary consumers.

As there were no secondary consumers there would be a imbalance in ecosystems and in the trophic chain itselfsince primary consumers, those who generally feed on biomass, would not have predators and, therefore, there would be an overpopulation of primary consumers.

This overpopulation also has a negative consequence in the producers, since they would not have regeneration capacity having a large number of primary consumers and these, in the end, would be seen without sufficient food for everyone being able to cause the extinction of some species, since only the best adapted to the situation would survive.

We recommend you read these other ecology articles to know this topic better:

• What is ecological balance.
• Ecological imbalance: What is, causes, consequences and examples.
• Ecosystem in equilibrium: what is and how it is maintained.

You have ever wondered, what would happen if a second -order consumer body multiplies excessively?

What would happen is that a Food competition Among secondary consumers, since if they multiply excessively there would be enough primary consumers to feed everyone. As a consequence primary consumers would disappear and the producers would stop producing by not having consumers.

In the trophic chain and in the trophic pyramid different levels are distinguished: decomponeers, producers and consumers. However, different types can be found within consumers. It is this article we have talked about Consumers secondary, although in this section we will talk briefly about other consumers and their place in The trophic pyramid:

• Primary consumers: They are herbivorous animals, that is, their power supply is the producing organisms. You can learn more about them in this other article about primary consumers: what are and examples.
• Tertiary consumers: They are animals that feed on secondary consumers and primary consumers, that is, they are carnivores.
• Quaternary consumers: This type of consumers encompasses those predatory animals of tertiary consumers, in addition they are at the highest level of the trophic pyramid. They are also called superdedors and have no predator that threatens them, as an example we have the human being.
• Parasites: They are living organisms that receive food from their prey when they are linked to it, they do it for periods of time and usually do not kill it, but they weaken it.

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