EVERYDAY SCIENCE

Detailed explanation-1: -All of the interconnected and overlapping food chains in an ecosystem make up a food web. Organisms in food webs are grouped into categories called trophic levels. Roughly speaking, these levels are divided into producers (first trophic level), consumers, and decomposers (last trophic level).

Detailed explanation-2: -Food web and food chain are made up of different trophic levels. Q. Assertion: A network of interconnected food chains in an ecosystem is known as a food web.

Detailed explanation-3: -Organisms in an ecosystem are connected in numerous ways. Some organisms may benefit another, compete with each other for resources and of course, eat one another. Feeding on another organism passes energy from one organism to the next. The flow of energy through an ecosystem is represented in a food chain.

Detailed explanation-4: -Consumers may be identified by their position in a chain: first order (primary) consumers eat producers; second order (secondary) consumers eat primary consumers; third order (tertiary) consumers eat secondary, and so on along a chain. Consumers high in a food chain do not necessarily eat all species lower down.

Detailed explanation-5: -Food web is an important ecological concept. Basically, food web represents feeding relationships within a community (Smith and Smith 2009). It also implies the transfer of food energy from its source in plants through herbivores to carnivores (Krebs 2009).