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trophic
1[ trof-ik, troh-fik ]
adjective
- of or relating to nutrition; concerned in nutritive processes.
-trophic
2- a combining form with the meanings “having nutritional habits or requirements” of the kind specified by the initial element ( autotrophic ), “affecting the activity of, maintaining” that specified ( gonadotrophic ) (in this sense often interchangeable with -tropic ); also forming adjectives corresponding to nouns ending in -troph or -trophy ( hypertrophic ).
trophic
/ ˈtrɒfɪk /
adjective
- of or relating to nutrition
the trophic levels of a food chain
trophic
/ trŏf′ĭk /
- Relating to the feeding habits of different organisms in a food chain or web.
Derived Forms
- ˈtrophically, adverb
Other Words From
- trophi·cal·ly adverb
Word History and Origins
Origin of trophic1
Word History and Origins
Origin of trophic1
Example Sentences
Investigations on phytoplankton are hereby most crucial, since changes at the basis of the food web can impact all higher trophic levels, all the way up to fisheries.
The wolves’ return and predatory dominance was believed to have had a widespread effect known as a trophic cascade, by decreasing grazing and restoring and expanding forests, grasses and other wildlife.
“I would say it’s exaggerated, greatly exaggerated,” said Thomas Hobbs, a professor of natural resource ecology at Colorado State University and the lead author of a long-term study that adds new fuel to the debate over whether Yellowstone experienced a trophic cascade.
"Dogs can contribute to the extinction of vertebrate species, can imbalance the trophic dynamics amongst predator guilds and even have the potential to collapse entire ecological communities," he continues.
"The displacement of various shark species due to killer whale presence may have implications for mesopredator release and potential trophic changes in the marine ecosystem."
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Words That Use -trophic
What does -trophic mean?
The combining form -trophic is used like a suffix for a variety of meanings, including “having nutritional habits or requirements.” In other words, the sense of -trophic specifies how an organism gets its nutrition or how it feeds.
The combining form -trophic is also used as an adjective form of nouns ending with -troph or -trophy. In some cases, -trophic means “affecting the activity of, maintaining.” In this sense, it is often synonymous with -tropic.
The combining form -trophic is often used in scientific terms, especially in biology and anatomy. It comes from the Greek trophikós, meaning “pertaining to food.”
Corresponding forms of –trophic combined to the beginning of words are tropho- and troph-.
Want to know more? Read our Words That Use -troph, -trophy, tropho-, and troph- articles.
Examples of -trophic
One term from biology that features -trophic is heterotrophic, meaning “capable of utilizing only organic materials as a source of food.” It is the adjective form of heterotroph.
The first part of the word, hetero-, means “different, other,” and -trophic, as we’ve seen, concerns what an organism needs for its food. So, heterotrophic has a literal sense of “other-feeding.”
Why? Put simply, heterotrophs, such as animals, require outside sources of nutrition whereas autotrophs, such as plants, can produce their own organic materials from inorganic materials (e.g., carbon dioxide).
In other, etymological words, heterotrophic organisms need “other food” because they can’t make any for themselves.
What are some words that use the combining form -trophic?
Break it down!
Most plants are autotrophic, which means, as discussed above, they can produce their own organic materials for nutrition from inorganic substances. Think: photosynthesis.
The combining form auto- means “self” or “same.” With this in mind, what does autotrophic literally translate to?
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