What does a food web show that a food chain does not?

Food webs don't usually show decomposers – you may have noticed that the Lake Ontario food web above does not. Yet all ecosystems need ways to recycle dead matter and waste. This means that decomposers are actually present, even if they don't get much airtime.

How do food chains differ from food chains?

A food chain describes who eats whom. A food web is all the food chains in an ecosystem. Each organism in an ecosystem occupies a specific trophic level or position in the food chain or web.

What does a food chain web show?

Food webs describe the relationships—connections or connections—between species in an ecosystem, but the relationships vary in their importance for energy flow and dynamics in species populations. Some trophic conditions are more important than others in dictating how energy flows through ecosystems.

What is a food web and what does the food web tell us?

A food web is a detailed description of the species in a community and their relationships to each other; it shows how energy is transferred up food chains that are connected to other food chains.

How are food webs and food chains related?

Food webs explain the relationships between organisms, both living and non-living, among a particular population. Food chains show the transfer of energy between organisms.

When do all the food chains in an ecosystem come together?

When all the food chains in an ecosystem are connected, they form a food web. Here's an example of a food web: Although it looks complex, it's just several food chains strung together. Here are some of the food chains in this food web:

What are the different types of food chains?

When there are more cross-interactions between different food chains, the food web becomes more complex. This complexity in a food web leads to a more sustainable ecosystem. There are two types of food chains namely detritus food chain and grazing food chain.

How are trophic links related to the food web?

The number of trophic links per consumer is a measure of the connection to the food web. Food chains are embedded in the trophic links of food webs. Food chains are linear (non-cyclic) food pathways that track monophagous consumers from a basal species up to the apex consumer, which is usually a larger predator.