Food web is a set of more complex food chains that intertwine in nature and extrapolate the possibilities defined by the concept of food chain.
Thus, they better reflect the trophic relationships between producers, consumers and decomposers.
Main features
What involves the relationships in a food web are the energy source from the autotrophy of the plant and the decomposition of the final organic matter by bacteria and fungi.
Note that several beings occupy different roles in nature. Your position in the food chain does not prevent you from belonging to different food chains or from having a varied diet, resulting from multiple relationships between the organisms that make up an ecosystem .
Food Web and Intoxication
Due to the complexity of the relationships existing in a food web, the issue of poisoning (mainly by lead, mercury and insecticides) becomes very important.
We know that a small regional contamination can affect several species of animals, because, once it has entered the food chain, the concentration of poisoning will increase at each trophic level , resulting in death for the last consumers in the chain.
Food web x Food chain
Unlike the food web that comprises a variety of relationships present in a complex ecosystem , the food chain brings food relationships together in a simple and linear way.
Thus, the food chain is a hierarchical sequence that aligns the energy path of producers and consumers.
- Producers : autotrophic beings capable of producing their own food, for example, herbivores.
- Consumers : feed on producers, and can be primary and secondary consumers.
- Decomposers : are fungi and bacteria.