Explain role of consumers in an ecosystem.

Explanation

Consumers They are animals which feed on other organisms or their parts. Consumers ingest their food . They are therefore also called phagotrophs. Consumers are differentiated into two broad categories , herbivores and carnivores. Herbivores obtain their food directly from plants. They are called first order consumers. Some common herbivores of terrestial ecosystems are deer,rabit, mouse, squirrel , grass hopper ,some beetles ,goat cattle , etc. Similar herbivores of the aquatic ecosystem are mostly crusteans. molluses and protozoans.
Carnivores ingest or prey upon other animals . The carnivores which feed on herbivores are named as primary carnivores or second order consumers e.g frog, centipede, birds, fishes , wild ,cat,jackal , fox snakes etc. The animals which feed on primary carnivores are called secondary carnivores or third order consumers e.g owl peacock, several fishes, tiger ,lion , etc . Secondary cornivores may become food of tertiary carnivores and so on. The carnivores which cannot be preyed upon lie at the tip of food chain and are called top carnivores e.g lion.