Trophic level ($\mathrm{TL}$)

A trophic level describes feeding position relative to primary producers. Assign primary producers level 1; in the illustrated food chain, zooplankton occupy level 2, small fish level 3, and large fish level 4. Following a single feeding path adds one level at each step. The labels make dependence on the initial resource visible, but a branching food web can give an organism several feeding paths. See Clark, Douglas and Choi, Biology 2e, 46.1: feeding positions and branching food webs.

An omnivore can obtain food from more than one trophic level. As an explicitly assumed diet-weighted example, suppose an omnivore gets half its assimilated food energy from level-1 primary producers and half from level-2 consumers. Define its trophic level as one plus the weighted mean level of its food: $1+(1/2)1+(1/2)2=2.5$. This computed position depends on the specified diet and weighting convention; it is not an immutable property of the species. A different life stage or diet can change it.