Question

Question #b4bf7

Answer 1

Food webs only follow one path of of animal's eating each other, while a food web shows how multiple paths interconnect and affect each other in an ecosystem.

Explanation:

A food chain shows a linear system of the order in which animals eat each other. For instance, take this food web:

http://k8schoollessons.com/food-chains-food-webs/

In it we see how the grasshopper eats the grass, then is eaten b the frog, who is eaten by the snake. The arrow represents the energy transfer along the chain. A food chain is a simple diagram which is great for beginner Ecosystem learning. However, it is limited in that it is not very accurate.

For instance, a frog eats flies as well as grasshoppers, and a python would love to have a rabbit for dinner. Similarly, hundreds, if not thousands of insects eat grass, but if we wanted to show them all, that would take hundreds of food chains, which would take too long. To solve this problem, the food web was invented.

A food web is basically a map of multiple food paths and their connections with each other, making it a complex food chain. For example, look below:

http://ib.bioninja.com.au/standard-level/topic-4-ecology/42-energy-flow/food-webs.html

Here we see that the prawn, carp and squid eat the algae and kelp, and how the frog is a tertiary consumer yet still gets eaten by the snake and kingfisher. This representation of an ecosystem is much more realistic then a simple food chain because it shows animals how animals rely on multiple food sources and are preyed upon by multiple predators, not just one.

I hope that helped!