If Human beings are at the top of the food chain......?

Question

....what animal/creature is at the bottom? few suggustions: gnats, fleas, lice, fruit flys, ants?

Answer 1

Think you're a little confused here, as Humans aren't at the top of the food chain, but I know where you're coming from with this good question. A lot of have people suggested that there are animals that eat people, which is absolutely correct. However I think you mean we're the most intelligent life form on earth (debatable with some people I know)...in which case that would make Humans Top of the evolutionary scale.
As for those at the bottom, Hedgehogs are thick, "Help! here comes a big truck, let's curl-up into a ball rather than run away"
Or how about Lemmings? The Manic Depressives of the animal kingdom? Elephants are not as intelligent as people make out either, they walk for thousands of miles in search of precious water, find it, have a trunk-full, then walk right back to where they started from. Salmon...the physical battle they endure to return to the same spot to spawn, and then they DIE!
I'm sure there's loads more daft animal behaviour, but you get the point.

Answer 2

The concept of the 'food chain' is generally now considered outdated. Instead, most biologists prefer the similar concept of the 'food web'.

One of the primary differences between the 'food chain' and the 'food web' ideas is that the web has no 'top' or 'bottom'. Lots of things eat lots of other things, and there simply are no animals that are completely immune to predation, even if they have to be weakened first. And there are certainly plenty of bacteria, fungi, and insects who are more than happy to dine on even the mightiest of creatures while they are still alive.

But if you want to cling to your outmoded ideas, the bottom of the food chain would be things that eat nothing but are eaten by almost anything. So you're looking at some kind of plant, probably some kind of plankton or algae that can only serve as bait even for microorganisms (they survive on nutrients produced from other dead things, but we're staying outmoded here).

Hope that helps!

Answer 3

There are many food chains, interconnecting in a food Web, rather than one chain from top to bottom.

For instance, the Cat family is also at the top of their respective chains, but we do not eat cats, so they aren't "below us" on ours.

Your answer would be microbes, the little critters that clean off dead creatures down to the bone, and fix nitrogen for the soil and the plants. ( nitrogen--fixing bacteria) And the cycle starts over. You could conceive of these microbes as being at the top, since they consume everything else. When a human dies, he goes from the top of the food chain, to the bottom.

Above that would be the insects--ants, flies, and nematodes (worms) above that. Birds a little higher.

Answer 4

It wouldn't be an animal or a creature it would be plants, because if an animal/creature were at the bottom they would have to take the role of the plants which is produce food, store energy d oxygen etc, and the plants would take the role the animals/creature which would be to eat the animals/creature. Imagine witnessing a mango tree eating a lion...

Answer 5

Who said we were at the top? The food chain is like a cycle and no one is at the top. Above us are organisms like viruses and bacteria. Bigger isn't always better.

Viruses can turn the toughest of people into lifeless corpses. These then start rotting away into what is called compost. Then this compost is an excellent source of nutrition for plants. These plants are eaten by cows, both of which are eaten by humans.

My explanation is a little crude, but I can't be bothered to go into detail for you. This is the basics for you.

Answer 6

Humans aren't always at the very top - some humans still get eaten by crocodiles, tigers, sharks and other large predators.

But...
Plants are generally the lowest living things on most food chains and this includes where humans are at (or near) the top. eg.:

* grass>cattle>humans
* grain (eg from wheat, rye, etc)>chickens>humans
* algae>small fish>big fish>humans
* plankton>krill>whales>humans
* nectar from flowers>bees>honey>humans
* and of course we eat many plants or plant products directly (fruit and vegetables, bread, nuts, cereals etc)

The ultimate driving force of all food chains is ENERGY. With the exception of a few organisms that obtain their energy purely from geo-thermal sources, all energy in the food chain system is derived from the Sun and is captured by various photosynthetic processes in plants and micro-organisms. Thus you could start just about all food chains with The Sun.

Answer 7

The bottom of the food chain are the producers--plants and other autotrophs. Like grass, vegetation, and other photosynthetic organisms.

Answer 8

I agree with Hondacobra, the importance of the yetti in most food chains is too oft overlooked IMHO

Answer 9

Iron is at the bottom of the food chain. Most people might say plants, but think about it. Plants eat (photosynthesize) carbon dioxide CO2. CO2 contains oxygen. Oxygen eats iron in a redox reaction (rusting). And I can't think of anything that iron eats. So therefore, iron is at the bottom of one of the food chains.

Answer 10

there is no 'top' of the foodchain. its just one big cycle, i,e The Circle Of Life.

humans are eaten by tigers, lions, crocodiles. all of these things (including humans) are eaten by maggots and other decomposers which in tern are eaten by birds, some of which are eaten by humans.

this is just one quick example of te circle. there are infact many more.