How is a food chain different then a food web?

Answer 1

A food chain only has one path of energy to follow. A food web is more complex but also if a organism is removed it doesn't affect the web,

Answer 2

a food web is a whole variety of energy transfers in an ecosystem, but a chain is just a small portion of it

A food chain starts at a green vegetable and usually has a primary, secondary and tertiary consumer. However, a food web is a group of interconnected food chains. It may have a larger number of producers and consumers.

a food web is the relationship between the animals in it or the energy transfer pattern between the organisms and a food chain is the animal that eat each other and not the energy transfer from one organism to another

Answer 3

They both essentially attempt to define the eating patterns of an ecosystem.

The main difference is that a food chain is a simplified straight line defining the most common eating patterns.

X eats Y which is eaten by Z would be a food chain.

A food web is a more detailed attempt at describing the same eating patterns but examining it with more complexity.

Most ecosystems cannot be accurately described with a straight line presented in a food chain. So for details you may have to recognize animals which eat a wide variety of foods and whose eating patterns interact with others in the system.

Food chains make for a good quick overview. Food webs allow for a deeper understanding of the real complexity that is going on and often contain a weaving of smaller food chains within an overall ecosystem.

For example in a food chain it would only display a list of animals in it where they eat those below them in the list: hawks > fishes > algae.

A food web is capable of recognizing where animals can eat each other such as Spiders>A food chain is different from a food web in a large way.

EG

Grass -> rabbit -> human

This FOOD CHAIN is only tertiary- it has only three places.

Food chains are always in this order:

Producer -> Primary consumer -> Secondary consumer -> TOP CONSUMER

EG: Grass-> rabbit -> Human -> SHARK

Vege/Fruit-> Herbivore/Omnivore-> Carnivore/Omnivore -> Carnivore/Omnivore

A food chain can have up to four positions.

A FOOD WEB looks like this:

Deer

Grass-> ->Human-> Shark

Rabbit ^ ^

Carrot-> ^ ^

^ ^

Sea Algae-> Fish->->-^->-->->

A food web has a range of food chains all mixed together to show the transfer of energy to each animal until the top consumer, of which (in a food web) there could be many.

PS Sorry my food web won't work when i save the answer. But the fish has arrows pointing up to the shark and the human and grass points to deer and rabbit. Carrot points to rabbit.