What is a food web?

• A. A simple, linear chain of who eats whom.
• B. A diagram of energy flow between producers and decomposers.
• C. A network of feeding relationships among organisms in an ecosystem.
• D. A schedule of feeding times for animals.

Answer: (C)

A food web shows how energy moves through an ecosystem by linking many feeding relationships among producers, consumers, and decomposers. It reveals the interconnected network of who eats whom, not just a single path. In a web, a species can be eaten by multiple others and can eat several different prey, creating multiple routes for energy to flow. Producers capture sunlight and start the energy transfer, then herbivores, carnivores, omnivores, and detritivores pass energy along as they feed, with energy gradually lost as heat along the way. Decomposers also play a key role by breaking down dead matter and recycling nutrients, tying together different parts of the network. So, a food web is the complex map of feeding relationships in an ecosystem, illustrating the real, interconnected nature of how life supports life.