Food chain and food web

Food chain

In an ecosystem, organisms are arranged in a definite sequence of their food habitat. Green plants are the producer, which are eaten by herbivores, which in turn are eaten by carnivores.
This linear transfer of food energy arranged with repeated eating and being eaten is known as "food chain".
For example:
Corn → Rat → Owl
Carrot → Rabbit → Fox → Lion
Grass → Grasshopper → Frog → Python → Eagle

Food web

In a functional ecosystem, food chains do not merely exist in isolation. Several food chains are rather interlinked with each other at multiple points and form a web or network. This interlocking pattern of food habit is known as "food web".

Food web showing interlinked organism at various trophic level

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First published on 03-09-2021
Last updated on 03-09-2021