Food Chain vs Food Web

Most of us enjoy eating our favorite food, whether it's pizza, a crisp apple, yummy roasted chicken, a crunchy bite of chocos, or any other food item. Eating is not just for the deliciousness, it brings actually we need energy for whatever we do. From playing a favorite sport to studying for a science test or roaming around with your friends.

The same thing is applicable to every living organism on earth. Like cute rabbits, tiny beetle, naughty squirrel, beautiful fish, lovely flowers, and trees, if it's alive, it needs energy.

So where does this energy come from and how does it get passed around to all living things?

Energy passes from one organism to another as they eat plants or any other one.

This flow of energy from one living thing to another living thing is called a food web or a food chain. We humans get our food from animals and plants.

Plants make their own food. They use carbon dioxide from air, sunlight and water from soil to make their food, this process is known as photosynthesis.

So now you are clear that plants make their food. We humans and other living organisms depend on plants for food.

Animals that eat only plants and herbs are called herbivores. For example, deer.

Species that eat other animals are called carnivores. For example, Lion.

Just now you have seen a small food chain plants make their own food other animals eat plants and they are eaten by other animals.  You can say directly or indirectly we all depend on plants for food. This food chain began with plants.

Plants are the producers because they produce food. The species that eat plants are known as primary consumers and the species that eat the species that is dependent on plants directly is called secondary consumers.

Now you see a not so noticeable part of this food chain, these are bacteria and fungi in soil. When animals die, these bacteria and fungi decompose their dead bodies. They become nutrients and these nutrients are again used by the plants to make food. These bacteria and fungi are called decomposers. They are also a very important part of a food chain.

Now look at this food chain, the grasshoppers eat grass and they are eaten by the frog. The snake eats the frog and the hawk eats snake. The hawk dies and is decomposed by the bacteria and fungi and becomes nutrients that is used by the grass the food chains that we see which has one producer, one primary consumer and one secondary consumer and decomposers is called a simple food chain.

Food Web

A food chain is a simple version of what actual happens in nature. But everything is not so simple. This looks complex in this diagram:

Grass can be eaten by rabbit, mouse and grasshopper. This mouse can be eaten by the hawk, the owl and the fox. And this grasshopper can be eaten by both the frog and the bird. Also this frog can be eaten by both the owl and the snake. And this rabbit can be eaten by both the fox and the hawk. And the snake can be eaten by the hawk. The bird is eaten by snake which is eaten by the hawk.

So a food web is a network of food chains by which nutrients and energy are passed from one species of organisms to another species. Now you know all about food chains and food webs.