A food web is a graphical representation of the feeding relationships between species in an ecological community. It is made up of interconnected food chains that show how energy and matter are transferred between organisms.
Here are some things to know about food webs:
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Trophic levelsThe position of an organism in a food web is called its trophic level. Organisms are grouped into trophic levels based on their feeding relationships. For example, producers are at the lowest trophic level, primary consumers are at the second trophic level, and top predators are at the highest trophic level.
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Food chainsFood chains show how matter and energy are transferred from one organism to another, but they don’t show that most organisms are consumed by or consume more than one species.
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ComplexityFood webs are complex and can be difficult to create accurately, especially in aquatic and soil ecosystems. This is because many species are unknown or little is known about them.
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Ecosystem changesFood webs can help us understand how changes to an ecosystem, like adding nutrients or removing a top predator, affect many species.
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