Food web

consumer-resource system

Food web, showing animals eating plants and each

other

A food web is similar to a

food chain but larger. The
diagram combines many
food chains into one picture.
The diagram uses arrows to
show the energy
relationships among
organisms. Food webs show
how plants and animals are
connected in many ways.
The arrow points from the
organism being eaten to the
organism that eats it.
A food web (or food cycle) is
a natural interconnection of
food chains. The two
extreme categories (trophic
levels) are:

1. the autotrophs, and

2. the heterotrophs.

A gradient exists: there are

different kinds of feeding
relations: herbivory,
carnivory, scavenging and
parasitism.

Some of the organic matter

eaten by heterotrophs, such
as sugars, provides energy.
Autotrophs and heterotrophs
come in all sizes, from
microscopic to many tonnes
– from cyanobacteria to
giant redwoods, and from
viruses to blue whales.