The Food Chain
Encyclopedia
The Food Chain is a London
, United Kingdom
-based charity
working to provide food and nutritional services to people living with HIV
and related illness. Formed on Christmas Day 1988, its stated aim is "to ensure that those living with HIV... have access to good nutrition to regain their health and stay well".
The charity provides nutrition services including home-delivered meals, emergency groceries and nutrition advice to men, women and children who are chronically sick as a result of HIV
-related illness. Its main Sunday hot and cold meal service is delivered from six borrowed kitchens across London - Hammersmith, Tooting, Bermondsey, Kentish Town, Highbury and Stepney Green - catering for housebound Londonders living with HIV and other associated illnesses. The charity is almost entirely sustained by volunteers and has an office staffed by six people in Islington
.
In 2005, The Food Chain won the Queen's Award for Volunteer Organisation of the Year and funding was sourced from the Big Lottery for a Chief Executive to develop The Food Chain over the next few years. The Food Chain also won The Guardian
Charity of the Year award in 2005, and the National Lottery 'Inspiration' award in 2006.
The Food Chain
What is the difference between the 'Food Chain' and 'Food Web?'
A popular misnomer, the 'food chain' is not actually a linear chain but a complex web. Energy is passed from one organism to another in a complex network like a spider's web.
The food chain consists of four main parts:
* The Sun, which provides the energy for everything on the planet.
* Producers: these include all green plants. These are also known as autotrophs, since they make their own food. Producers are able to harness the energy of the sun to make food. Ultimately, every (aerobic) organism is dependent on plants for oxygen (which is the waste product from photosynthesis) and food (which is produced in the form of glucose through photosynthesis). They make up the bulk of the food chain or web.
* Consumers: In short, consumers are every organism that eats something else. They include herbivores (animals that eat plants), carnivores (animals that eat other animals), parasites (animals that live off of other organisms by harming it), and scavengers (animals that eat dead animal carcasses). Primary consumers are the herbivores, and are the second largest biomass in an ecosystem. The animals that eat the herbivores (carnivores) make up the third largest biomass, and are also known as secondary consumers. This continues with tertiary consumers, etc.
* Decomposers: These are mainly bacteria and fungi that convert dead matter into gases such as carbon and nitrogen to be released back into the air, soil, or water. Fungi, and other organisms that break down dead organic matter are known as saprophytes. Even though most of us hate those mushrooms or molds, they actually play a very important role. Without decomposers, the earth would be covered in trash. Decomposers are necessary since they recycle the nutrients to be used again by producers.
This table shows the relational biomass of each of the major groups in the food chain:
Tertiary Consumers
Secondary Consumers
Primary Consumers
Producers
\ | | | | | | | | | | | | | | /
Decomposers
How have humans affected the food chain?
When we spray pesticides, we put the food chain in danger. By breaking one link on the chain means all of the organisms above that link are in threat of extinction (like the domino effect). By hunting animals nearly to extinction, everything above the animal in the food chain is put in danger. A 'chain reaction' in the food chain can be perilous! Since the food chain provides energy that all living things must have in order to survive, it is imperitive that we protect it.
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London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
, United Kingdom
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
-based charity
Charitable organization
A charitable organization is a type of non-profit organization . It differs from other types of NPOs in that it centers on philanthropic goals A charitable organization is a type of non-profit organization (NPO). It differs from other types of NPOs in that it centers on philanthropic goals A...
working to provide food and nutritional services to people living with HIV
HIV
Human immunodeficiency virus is a lentivirus that causes acquired immunodeficiency syndrome , a condition in humans in which progressive failure of the immune system allows life-threatening opportunistic infections and cancers to thrive...
and related illness. Formed on Christmas Day 1988, its stated aim is "to ensure that those living with HIV... have access to good nutrition to regain their health and stay well".
The charity provides nutrition services including home-delivered meals, emergency groceries and nutrition advice to men, women and children who are chronically sick as a result of HIV
HIV
Human immunodeficiency virus is a lentivirus that causes acquired immunodeficiency syndrome , a condition in humans in which progressive failure of the immune system allows life-threatening opportunistic infections and cancers to thrive...
-related illness. Its main Sunday hot and cold meal service is delivered from six borrowed kitchens across London - Hammersmith, Tooting, Bermondsey, Kentish Town, Highbury and Stepney Green - catering for housebound Londonders living with HIV and other associated illnesses. The charity is almost entirely sustained by volunteers and has an office staffed by six people in Islington
Islington
Islington is a neighbourhood in Greater London, England and forms the central district of the London Borough of Islington. It is a district of Inner London, spanning from Islington High Street to Highbury Fields, encompassing the area around the busy Upper Street...
.
In 2005, The Food Chain won the Queen's Award for Volunteer Organisation of the Year and funding was sourced from the Big Lottery for a Chief Executive to develop The Food Chain over the next few years. The Food Chain also won The Guardian
The Guardian
The Guardian, formerly known as The Manchester Guardian , is a British national daily newspaper in the Berliner format...
Charity of the Year award in 2005, and the National Lottery 'Inspiration' award in 2006.
The Food Chain
What is the difference between the 'Food Chain' and 'Food Web?'
A popular misnomer, the 'food chain' is not actually a linear chain but a complex web. Energy is passed from one organism to another in a complex network like a spider's web.
The food chain consists of four main parts:
* The Sun, which provides the energy for everything on the planet.
* Producers: these include all green plants. These are also known as autotrophs, since they make their own food. Producers are able to harness the energy of the sun to make food. Ultimately, every (aerobic) organism is dependent on plants for oxygen (which is the waste product from photosynthesis) and food (which is produced in the form of glucose through photosynthesis). They make up the bulk of the food chain or web.
* Consumers: In short, consumers are every organism that eats something else. They include herbivores (animals that eat plants), carnivores (animals that eat other animals), parasites (animals that live off of other organisms by harming it), and scavengers (animals that eat dead animal carcasses). Primary consumers are the herbivores, and are the second largest biomass in an ecosystem. The animals that eat the herbivores (carnivores) make up the third largest biomass, and are also known as secondary consumers. This continues with tertiary consumers, etc.
* Decomposers: These are mainly bacteria and fungi that convert dead matter into gases such as carbon and nitrogen to be released back into the air, soil, or water. Fungi, and other organisms that break down dead organic matter are known as saprophytes. Even though most of us hate those mushrooms or molds, they actually play a very important role. Without decomposers, the earth would be covered in trash. Decomposers are necessary since they recycle the nutrients to be used again by producers.
This table shows the relational biomass of each of the major groups in the food chain:
Tertiary Consumers
Secondary Consumers
Primary Consumers
Producers
\ | | | | | | | | | | | | | | /
Decomposers
How have humans affected the food chain?
When we spray pesticides, we put the food chain in danger. By breaking one link on the chain means all of the organisms above that link are in threat of extinction (like the domino effect). By hunting animals nearly to extinction, everything above the animal in the food chain is put in danger. A 'chain reaction' in the food chain can be perilous! Since the food chain provides energy that all living things must have in order to survive, it is imperitive that we protect it.
[ Topics | Welcome | Eco-consciousness | Search | Chat | Quiz | Bulletin Board | Ecosystems | Ecology | Children | Endangered Animals | Art Restoration | Ways to Help | Success Stories | Pollution Alerts | War | Did you know? | Comments | Links & Credits ]