Food web

• A food web can be described as a "who eats whom" diagram that shows the complex feeding relationships in an ecosystem. • The interconnectedness of how organisms are involved in energy transfer within an ecosystem is vital to understanding food webs and how they apply to real-world science. • The increase in toxic substances, like man-made • By analyzing food webs, scientists are able to study and predict how substances move through the ecosystem to help prevent the bioaccumulation and biomagnification of harmful substances. Food Web Definition The concept of a food web, previously known as a food cycle, is typically credited to Charles Elton, who first introduced it in his book Animal Ecology, published in 1927. He is considered one of the founders of modern ecology and his book is a seminal work. He also introduced other important ecological concepts like Broadly speaking, there are two main designations: autotrophs and heterotrophs. Autotrophs make their own food while heterotrophs do not. Within this broad designation, there are five main trophic levels: primary producers, primary consumers, secondary consumers, tertiary consumers, and apex predators A lion is an example of an apex predator. Andrew_Deer / Getty Images Plus Primary producers make their own food via photosynthesis. Photosynthesis uses the sun's energy to make food by converting its light energy into chemical energy. Primary producer examples include plants and algae. These organisms are also known as au...

• Home • Science Menu Toggle • Plants Facts • Animal Facts • Physics • Chemistry • Human Body • Earth Science • Science Quiz • General Science Questions For Kids • Math • Solar System Menu Toggle • Solar System Facts • Mercury Facts • Venus Facts • Earth Facts • Mars Facts • Jupiter Facts • Saturn Facts • Uranus Facts • Neptune Facts • Pluto Facts • Geography Menu Toggle • Continents Menu Toggle • Asia Continent • Africa Continent • Antarctica Continent • Australasia & Oceania Continent • Europe Continent • North America Continent • South America Continent • Countries • Mountains • Oceans • Quiz • Jokes • Parents Corner Every living organism on the earth needs energy to grow, move, and survive. The sun is the main source of energy for all the living things. First, the energy from the sun goes into the plants through PHOTOSYNTHESIS and then transferred from one organism to the next organism. This process of moving energy from one organism to another is called ENERGY FLOW. Sunlight and plants play a very important role in the supply of energy. The organism which produces their own food to get energy is known as the PRODUCERS. It does not depend on anyone for its food. Plants are known as producers. Because plants make their own food by the process of the photosynthesis. Plants, algae, and some bacteria are the example of producers. Producers are also known as AUTOTROPHS. Auto means “self”, Troph means “feed”. The organism which eats other living things to get energy is known...

• • • • • • • • Food Web: Facts “Time for dinner” is a welcome sound to just about everyone. Whether it is pizza, roast chicken, a crisp apple, a cold slice of watermelon or another favorite food, most of us enjoy eating. Food Energy But eating is not just for the good tastes it brings. Eating food gives us the So, where does all this energy come from? How does it get passed around to all living things? Energy passes from one animal to another as they eat plants or one another. This flow of energy from one living thing to another is called a “food chain or a food web”. Let's take a closer look… Producers To understand food chains and food webs, we must start with where the energy begins. Sunlight is energy, and plants use this energy to turn water and Because plants make so much energy, they are called “ Primary Consumers Animals that eat only plants are Think about you eating a fresh tomato out of your family's garden. In that case, you are the primary consumer of the tomato. Your body will use the energy from the tomato. This makes a basic food chain with two links, the tomato and you. In the Secondary Consumers Many primary consumers are very small creatures that make great snacks for larger animals. A grasshopper eats the grass and a small mammal called a These food chains can have many links. Check out this food chain: plant → grasshopper → spider → shrew → weasel → red–tailed hawk → great-horned owl The plant is the producer and the grasshopper is the primary consume...

Food web, (noun, “FOOD WEB”) A food web is a map of what organisms eat what other organisms in a given area. Those life forms include all the Most species in a food web have feeding relationships with many other species. For example, a rabbit may eat grass, wheat or lettuce. That same rabbit may be eaten by a fox or a hawk. Or it may die of natural causes and be eaten by microbes in the soil. Each possible pathway is called a food chain. And each species is a link in that chain. A food web combines all the individual food chains between every species in a given place, or an ecosystem. This food web shows the feeding relationships between species in a freshwater environment. Organisms are grouped according to major feeding categories — primary producers (which get energy from sunlight), primary consumers (which eat primary producers), secondary consumers (which eat primary consumers) and decomposers. K. Schulz, M. Smit, L. Herfort and H. Simon/ Front. Young Minds. 2018 ( By showing who eats who, food webs illustrate how energy travels through an ecosystem. Energy enters most ecosystems through plants or algae, which get their energy from sunlight. Food webs can focus on different aspects of an ecosystem. For example, a food web of a rainforest ecosystem might start with plants, such as Brazil nut trees ( Bertholletia excelsa). Those organisms are, in turn, shown being eaten by animals, such as sloths and monkeys. The end of this food web is likely to be top predators, such ...

1. Introduce the simulation activity. Ask students to imagine that they are animals in Australia’s Shark Bay 2. Assign roles. Give each student a slip of paper that assigns him or her the role of one of the following animals in the Shark Bay food web: bottlenose dolphins, dugongs, green sea turtles, and tiger sharks. There should be far fewer tiger sharks than dugongs, sea turtles, and dolphins. For example, if you have a class of 30 students, there should be 4 tiger sharks, 6 dolphins, 10 turtles, and 10 dugongs. 3. Conduct the simulation. • Designate one section of the room as an area of sea grass. Explain that the sea grass supports many animals and is very important to the ecosystem. • Ask the dugongs and turtles to go to the sea grass area. Explain that the grass is their favorite type of food. Tell them they cannot leave the sea grass area. • Ask the dolphins to stand in an area near the sea grass. Explain that they might be looking for fish to eat. • Have the tiger sharks travel slowly to the area where the dolphins, turtles, and dugongs are. Explain that the sharks are hungry—what will they decide to eat today? Allow each shark to choose “prey” by selecting one of the other students to “eat” and tapping the student on the shoulder. The students “eaten” by the sharks should go to another area of the room to watch the rest of the simulation. • Pause the simulation and tell the dolphins that they are scared of sharks. Tell the dolphins to take three steps away from th...

For a very long period, nature has been a matter of fascination and wonder to everyone curious to know more about it. With an immense amount of research and studies, it is finally found that everything and everyone who exists on earth is related to each other, either this way or that way. Starting from the microscopic particles to the tonnes size living beings, everyone is dependent on one another for survival. The natural interconnection between different organisms to sustain life on this planet is known as the "food chain". On the other hand, a graphical representation of different food chains occurring in the In simple terms, the food web is simply based on who feeds on whom in an ecological community. Food webs are also known as "consumer-resource systems". These are mainly based on different trophic levels. The trophic levels are broadly classified into two types: ● Autotrophs ● Heterotrophs Autotrophs The living beings who make their food on their own, come in these categories. These living beings mainly use the sun and essential gases like carbon dioxide and go through a process known as photosynthesis, to form organic matter. This further helps them to grow, sustain and reproduce. These categories mainly contain plants. Heterotrophs The living beings which are unable to produce their food and rather obtain it from other organisms are known as heterotrophs. These living beings sustain life by feeding on autotrophs or other heterotrophs. These categories mainly conta...

Trophic Levels A food chain follows one path of energy and materials between species. A food web is more complex and is a whole system of connected food chains. In a food web, organisms are placed into different trophic levels. Trophic levels include different categories of organisms such as producers, consumers, and decomposers. Producers are the basic trophic level while top predators are the peak level. Producers are autotrophs, meaning they produce their own food through photosynthesis or chemosynthesis. Consumers are animals that eat producers and are split into many different categories: primary consumers, secondary consumers, tertiary consumers, and more. Primary consumers are plant-eating herbivores; secondary consumers eat the herbivores; tertiary consumers can consume both the primary and secondary consumers. There may be more levels of consumers until eventually the top predator is reached. The relationship between trophic levels (e.g. primary producers, herbivores, primary predators, and top predators) is shown in Figure 1. It is important to note that consumers can be carnivores, animals that eat other animals, and also omnivores, animals that consume many types of food. Decomposers are also part of the food web and include organisms that feed on all varieties of dead plants and animals which are responsible for returning nutrients to the environment. Figure 1: Diagram shows the hierarchy of consumption with each tier consuming species from the tier below them...