A food web is just another layer of the entire process.

A food chain is a simplified version of

what really happens in nature. Very few animals just eat one food. A food web is nature's way of
making sure that there is food to go around. Let's use the simple food chain we used earlier.
Imagine if a plant disease caused the one plant eaten by the grasshopper to die out. There
would be no food for grasshoppers and they would eventually die.

plant grasshopper spider shrew weasel redtailed hawk great-horned

owl
The secondary consumers would have no food either. Spiders would die for lack of food,
causing the shrews to also go hungry. You can imagine how that would affect the weasel, the
red-tailed hawk and the great-horned owl. The scavengers and decomposers would be the only
ones who would feast!!! But just for a short time after that there might not be any animals left
at all. A food web protects the balance of food and consumers by spreading the food sources
and the eaters around.

Food web
A food web (or food cycle) is the natural interconnection of food chains and generally a
graphical representation (usually an image) of what-eats-what in an ecological community.
Another name for food web is a consumer-resource system. Ecologists can broadly lump all life
forms into one of two categories called trophic levels: 1) the autotrophs, and 2) the heterotrophs.
Tomaintain their bodies, grow, develop, and to reproduce, autotrophs produce organic matter
from inorganic substances, including both minerals and gases such as carbon dioxide.
These chemical reactions require energy, which mainly comes from the sunand largely
by photosynthesis, although a very small amount comes from hydrothermal vents and hot
springs. A gradient exists between trophic levels running from complete autotrophs that obtain
their sole source of carbon from the atmosphere, to mixotrophs (such as carnivorous plants)
that are autotrophic organisms that partially obtain organic matter from sources other than the
atmosphere, and complete heterotrophs that must feed to obtain organic matter. The linkages in
a food web illustrate the feeding pathways, such as where heterotrophs obtain organic matter by
feeding on autotrophs and other heterotrophs. The food web is a simplified illustration of the
various methods of feeding that links an ecosystem into a unified system of exchange. There
are different kinds of feeding relations that can be roughly divided
into 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 and bdellovibrio to blue whales.
Charles Elton pioneered the concept of food cycles, food chains, and food size in his classical
1927 book "Animal Ecology"; Elton's 'food cycle' was replaced by 'food web' in a subsequent
ecological text. Elton organized species into functional groups, which was the basis
for Raymond Lindeman's classic and landmark paper in 1942 on trophic dynamics. Lindeman
emphasized the important role of decomposer organisms in a trophic system of classification.
The notion of a food web has a historical foothold in the writings of Charles Darwin and his
terminology, including an "entangled bank", "web of life", "web of complex relations", and in
reference to the decomposition actions of earthworms he talked about "the continued movement
of the particles of earth". Even earlier, in 1768 John Bruckner described nature as "one
continued web of life".
Food webs are limited representations of real ecosystems as they necessarily aggregate many
species into trophic species, which are functional groups of species that have the same
predators and prey in a food web. Ecologists use these simplifications in quantitative (or
mathematical) models of trophic or consumer-resource systems dynamics. Using these models
they can measure and test for generalized patterns in the structure of real food web networks.
Ecologists have identified non-random properties in the topographicstructure of food webs.
Published examples that are used in meta analysis are of variable quality with omissions.
However, the number of empirical studies on community webs is on the rise and the
mathematical treatment of food webs using network theory had identified patterns that are
common to all. Scaling laws, for example, predict a relationship between the topology of food
web predator-prey linkages and levels of species richness.

Introduction
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). Normally, food
webs consist of a number of food chains meshed together. Each food chain is a descriptive
diagram including a series of arrows, each pointing from one species to another, representing
the flow of food energy from one feeding group of organisms to another.

There are two types of food chains: the grazing food chain, beginning with autotrophs, and the
detrital food chain, beginning with dead organic matter (Smith & Smith 2009). In a grazing food
chain, energy and nutrients move from plants to the herbivores consuming them, and to the
carnivores or omnivores preying upon the herbivores. In a detrital food chain, dead organic
matter of plants and animals is broken down by decomposers, e.g., bacteria and fungi, and
moves to detritivores and then carnivores.

Food web offers an important tool for investigating the ecological interactions that define energy
flows and predator-prey relationship (Cain et al. 2008

The idea to apply the food chains to ecology and to analyze its consequences was first
proposed by Charles Elton (Krebs 2009). In 1927, he recognized that the length of these food
chains was mostly limited to 4 or 5 links and the food chains were not isolated, but hooked
together into food webs (which he called "food cycles"). The feeding interactions represented by
the food web may have profound effects on species richness of community, and ecosystem
productivity and stability (Ricklefs 2008).

Types of Food Webs

Food webs describe the relationships links or connections among species in an
ecosystem, but the relationships vary in their importance to energy flow and dynamics of
species populations. Some trophic relationships are more important than others in dictating how
energy flows through ecosystems. Some connections are more influential on species population
change. Based on different ways in which species influence one another, Robert Paine
proposed three types of food webs based on the species of a rocky intertidal zone on the coast
of Washington (Ricklefs 2008, Figure 2). Connectedness webs (or topological food webs)
emphasize feeding relationships among species, portrayed as links in a food web (Paine 1980).
Energy flow webs quantify energy flow from one species to another. Thickness of an arrow
reflects the strength of the relationship. Functional webs (or interaction food webs) represent the
importance of each species in maintaining the integrity of a community and reflect influence on
the growth rate of other species' populations. As shown in Figure 2, limpets Acmaea
pelta and A. mitra in the community consume considerable food energy (energy flow web), but
removal of these consumers has no detectable influence on the abundance of their resources
(functional web). The most effective control was exerted by sea urchin Stronglocentrotus and
the chiton Katharina (Ricklefs 2008).

Food webs can be used to study bottom-up or top-down control of community structure.
Food webs illustrate energy flow from primary producers to primary consumers (herbivores),
and from primary consumers to secondary consumers (carnivores). The structure of food webs
suggests that productivity and abundance of populations at any given trophic level are
controlled by the productivity and abundance of populations in the trophic level below them
(Smith & Smith 2009). This phenomenon is call bottom-up control. Correlations in abundance or
productivity between consumers and their resources are considered as evidence for bottom-up
control. For example, plant population densities control the abundance of herbivore populations
which in turn control the densities of the carnivore populations. Thus, the biomass of herbivores
usually increases with primary productivity in terrestrial ecosystems.

Top-down control occurs when the population density of a consumer can control that of its
resource, for example, predator populations can control the abundance of prey species (Power
1992). Under top-down control, the abundance or biomass of lower trophic levels depends on
effects from consumers at higher trophic levels. A trophic cascade is a type of top-down
interaction that describes the indirect effects of predators. In a trophic cascade, predators
induce effects that cascade down the food chain and affect biomass of organisms at least two
links away (Ricklefs 2008). Nelson Hairston, Frederick Smith and Larry Slobodkin first
introduced the concept of top-down control with the frequently quoted "the world is green"
proposition (Power 1992; Smith & Smith 2009). They proposed that the world is green because
carnivores depress herbivores and keep herbivore populations in check. Otherwise, herbivores
would consume most of the vegetation. Indeed, a bird exclusion study demonstrated that there
were significantly more insects and leaf damage in plots without birds compared to the control
(Marquis & Whelan 1994).

Food webs can be used to reveal different patterns of energy transfer in terrestrial and
aquatic ecosystems.
Patterns of energy flow through different ecosystems may differ markedly in terrestrial and
aquatic ecosystems (Shurin et al. 2006). Food webs (i.e., energy flow webs) can be used to
reveal these differences. In a review paper, Shurin et al. (2006) provided evidence for
systematic difference in energy flow and biomass partitioning between producers and
herbivores, detritus and decomposers, and higher trophic levels in food webs. A dataset
synthesized by Cebrian and colleagues on the fate of carbon fixed by primary productivity
across different ecosystems was used to show different patterns in food chains between
terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems (Figure 5). On average, the turnover rate of phytoplankton is
10 to 1000 times faster than that of grasslands and forests, thus, less carbon is stored in the
living autotroph biomass pool, and producer biomass is consumed by aquatic herbivores at 4
times the terrestrial rate (Cebrian 1999, 2004; Shurin et al. 2006). Herbivores in terrestrial
ecosystems are less abundant but decomposers are much more abundant than in
phytoplankton dominated aquatic ecosystems. In most terrestrial ecosystems with high standing
biomass and relatively low harvest of primary production by herbivores, the detrital food chain is
dominant (Smith & Smith 2009). In deep-water aquatic ecosystems, with their low standing
biomass, rapid turnover of organisms, and high rate of harvest, the grazing food chain may be
dominant.
Food Web
In natural environment or an ecosystem, the relationships between the food chains are inter-
connected. These relationships are very complex, as one organism may be a part of multiple
food chains. Hence, a web like structure is formed in place of a linear food chain. The web like
structure if formed with the interlinked food chain and such matrix that is interconnected is
known as a food web.

Food webs are an indispensible part of an ecosystem; these food webs allows an organism to
obtain food from more than one type of organism of the lower trophic level. Every living being is
responsible and is a part of multiple food chains in the given ecosystem. It is also referred to as
a consumer-resource system.

An animal ecologist pioneer Charles Elton (1927) introduced the food web concept which he
referred to as food cycle. Charles Elton described the concept of food web as : The carnivore
animals prey upon the herbivores. These herbivores get the energy from sun-light. The later
carnivores may also be preyed upon by other carnivores. Until a reach where an animal has no
enemies it forms a terminus on this food cycle. There are chains of animals that are linked
together by food, and all are dependent on plants in the long run. This is referred to as a food
chain and all the food chains in a community is known as the food cycle.

Trophic Levels

Food webs have trophic levels and trophic positions.

Species of plants form the first level basal species. The basal species are also known as
producers; these are resources species on which the primary consumers or primary
predators feed on in the web.
These primary predators do not feed on any other living creature other than the primary
producers in the food web.
The basal species can either consists of the autotrophs or the detritivores that also
includes decomposing organic material and associated microorganisms and plant
material.
Autotrophs capture energy form sun-light and produce energy by the process of
photosynthesis. Others get energy chemical oxidation of inorganic compounds.
In the top level are the apex predatores or the secondary predators, these species are
not directly killed for its food resources.
The intermediate trophic levels are filled with omnivorous species which feed on more
than one trophic level and they cause the flow of energy through various food pathways
from the basal species.
The scheme of the tropic levels is such that the first trophic level consists the plants
(level 1) and then the primary consumers or herbivores (level 2) and then the carnivores
 or secondary consumers (level 3). The detritivores are considered at the zero level of the
food chain.

Trophic Levels

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).

Producers
Producers make up the first trophic level. Producers, also known as autotrophs, make their own
food and do not depend on any other organism for nutrition. Most autotrophs use a process
called photosynthesis to create food (a nutrient called glucose) from sunlight,carbon dioxide,
and water.

Plants are the most familiar type of autotroph, but there are many other kinds. Algae, whose
larger forms are known as seaweed, are autotrophic. Phytoplanktons, tiny organisms that live in
the ocean, are also autotrophs. Some types of bacteria are autotrophs. For example, bacteria
living in active volcanoes use sulfur, not carbon dioxide, to produce their own food. This process
is called chemosynthesis.

Consumers
The next trophic levels are made up of animals that eat producers. These organisms are called
consumers.

Primary consumers are herbivores. Herbivores eat plants, algae, and other producers. They are
at the second trophic level. In a grassland ecosystem, deer, mice, and even elephants are
herbivores. They eat grasses, shrubs, and trees. In a desert ecosystem, a mouse that
eats seeds and fruits is a primary consumer.

In an ocean ecosystem, many types of fish and turtles are herbivores that eat algae
and seagrass. In kelp forests, seaweeds known as giant kelp provide shelter and food for an
entire ecosystem. Sea urchins are powerful primary consumers in kelp forests. These small
herbivores eat dozens of kilograms (pounds) of giant kelp every day.
Secondary consumers eat herbivores. They are at the third trophic level. In a desert ecosystem,
a secondary consumer may be a snake that eats a mouse. In the kelp forest, sea otters are
secondary consumers that hunt sea urchins as prey.

Tertiary consumers eat the secondary consumers. They are at the fourth trophic level. In the
desert ecosystem, an owl or eagle may prey on the snake.

There may be more levels of consumers before a chain finally reaches its top predator. Top
predators, also called apex predators, eat other consumers. They may be at the fourth or fifth
trophic level. They have no natural enemies except people. Lions are apex predators in the
grassland ecosystem. In the ocean, fish such as the great white shark are apex predators. In
the desert, bobcats and mountain lions are top predators.

Consumers can be carnivores (animals that eat other animals) or omnivores (animals that eat
both plants and animals). Omnivores, like people, consume many types of foods. People eat
plants, such as vegetables and fruits. We also eat animals and animal products, such as meat,
milk, and eggs. We eat fungi, such as mushrooms. We also eat algae, in edible seaweeds
likenori (used to wrap sushi rolls) and sea lettuce (used in salads). Bears are omnivores, too.
They eat berries and mushrooms, as well as animals such as salmon and deer.

Detritivores and Decomposers

Detritivores and decomposers make up the last part of food chains. Detritivores are organisms
that eat nonliving plant and animal remains. For example,scavengers such as vultures eat dead
animals. Dung beetles eat animal feces.

Decomposers, like fungi and bacteria, complete the food chain. Decomposers turn organic
wastes, such asdecaying plants, into inorganic materials, such as nutrient-rich soil. They
complete the cycle of life, returning nutrients to the soil or oceans for use by autotrophs. This
starts a whole new series of food chains.

Food Chains

Food webs connect many different food chains, and many different trophic levels. Food webs
can support food chains that are long and complicated, or very short.
For example, grass in a forest clearing produces its own food through photosynthesis. A rabbit
eats the grass. A fox eats the rabbit. When the fox dies, decomposers such as worms and
mushrooms break down its body, returning it to the soil where it provides nutrients for plants like
grass.This short food chain is one part of the forests food web. Another food chain in the same
ecosystem might involve completely different organisms. A caterpillar may eat the leaves of a
tree in the forest. A bird such as a sparrow may eat the caterpillar. A snake may then prey on
the sparrow. An eagle, an apex predator, may prey on the snake. A hawk, another apex
predator, may prey on the eagle. Yet another bird, a vulture, consumes the body of the dead
hawk. Finally, bacteria in the soil decompose the remains.
In a desert ecosystem, an autotroph such as a cactus produces fruit. Herbivorous insects, such
as flies, consume the cactus fruit. Birds such as the roadrunner consume these insects.
Detritivores such as termites eat the roadrunner after it dies. Bacteria and fungi help decompose
the remaining bones of the roadrunner. The carbon in the bones enriches the desert soil,
helping plants like cactuses develop. Algae and plankton are the main producers in marine
ecosystems. Tiny shrimp called krill eat the microscopic plankton. The largest animal on Earth,
the blue whale, preys on thousands of tons of krill every day. Apex predators such as orcas prey
on blue whales. As the bodies of large animals such as whales sink to the seafloor, detritivores
such as worms break down the material. The nutrients released by the decaying flesh provide
chemicals for algae and plankton to start a new series of food chains

Biomass

Food webs are defined by their biomass. Biomass is the energy in living organisms. Autotrophs,
the producers in a food web, convert the suns energy into biomass. Biomass decreases with
each trophic level. There is always more biomass in lower trophic levels than in higher ones.

Because biomass decreases with each trophic level, there are always more autotrophs than
herbivores in a healthy food web. There are more herbivores than carnivores. An ecosystem
cannot support a large number of omnivores without supporting an even larger number of
herbivores, and an even larger number of autotrophs.
A healthy food web has an abundance of autotrophs, many herbivores, and few carnivores and
omnivores. This balance helps the ecosystem maintain and recyclebiomass.
In addition, smaller animals are more numerous than larger ones. Tigers and ants are both
consumers in a tropical food web. However, it takes much more biomass to support a tiger
population than a colony of ants. Tigers consume more food and take up a much larger space.
There are many more ants than tigers in the food web of a tropical ecosystem.
Every link in a food web is connected to at least two others. The biomass of an ecosystem
depends on how balanced and connected its food web is. When one link in the food web is
threatened, some or all of the links are weakened or stressed. The ecosystems
biomassdeclines.
The loss of plant life usually leads to a decline in the herbivore population, for instance. Plant life
can decline due to drought, disease, or human activity. Forests are cut down to
provide lumber for construction. Grasslands are paved over for shopping malls or parking lots.
As the number of plants and other autotrophs isreduced, the rest of the food web is forced
to adapt or die. Deer have fewer plants to eat. Butterflies and bees have fewer flowers
to pollinate. In turn, predators like mountain lions have fewer deer to consume. Birds like
kingfishers have fewer insects to eat.
The loss of biomass on the second or third trophic level can also put a food web out of balance.
Consider what may happen if a salmon run is diverted. A salmon run is a river where salmon
swim. Salmon runs can be diverted by landslides and earthquakes, as well as the construction
of dams and levees.

Biomass is lost as salmon are cut out of the rivers many food chains, which make up the
ecosystems food web. Unable to eat salmon, omnivores like bears are forced to rely more
heavily on other food sources, such as ants. The areas ant population shrinks. Ants are usually
scavengers and detritivores, so fewer nutrients are broken down in the soil. The soil is unable to
support as many autotrophs, so biomass is lost. Salmon themselves are predators of insect
larvae and smaller fish. Without salmon to keep their population in check, aquatic insects
may devastate local plant communities. Fewer plants survive, and biomass is lost.

A loss of organisms on higher trophic levels, such as carnivores, can also disrupt a food chain.
In the kelp forest, sea urchins are the primary consumer of kelp. Sea otters prey on urchins. If
the sea otter population shrinks due to disease or hunting, urchins devastate the kelp forest.
Lacking a community of producers, biomass plummets. The entire kelp forest disappears. Such
areas are called urchin barrens.