Feeding relationships are not usually as simple as food chains suggest. Organisms usually feed on many different food sources and may also be eaten by more than one consumer. Feeding relationships are better shown using a food web. A food web is made up of interconnected food chains.
Food webs clearly show that all the organisms in an ecosystem depend on each other for survival. For example:
1. If a disease killed large numbers of rabbits, removing them from the food chain, more grass would grow.
2. More grass would mean more food for grasshoppers and their numbers would increase.
3. Badgers would have more grasshoppers to eat and so the number of badgers would also grow.
4. On the other hand, fewer rabbits would mean less food for foxes, so their numbers would decrease.
Oak tree
Learn more about the cycling of matter in Earth and Space 22.2
