4.5b Food Webs

4.5b Food Webs

Understand the concepts of food chains, food webs, pyramids of number, pyramids of biomass and pyramids of energy transfer

The food web enables us to provide a better description of the ecosystem.

Ecosystem is a community of organisms which are interacting, in this example they are FEEDING

An Advantage is that it allows us to see organisms feeding at different trophic levels. However its consequences are that:

1) Organisms can have multiple predators

2) Organism may feed on multiple preys

3) Results in food chain becoming linked

You can see that the Hawk can either be the secondary or tertiary consumer.  It is a multiple predator

The slug is the prey to badgers, small birds and hedgehogs

The fox feeds on the rabbit, mice and shrew. This causes it to become linked.

Some food chains have 2 or 3 links to them.