In reality, an organism often has more than one food source and may be eaten by more than one consumer. A food web describes feeding relationships by showing how food chains are connected to each other.
A food web shows more clearly and realistically how all the organisms in an ecosystem rely on each other for survival.
Look at the food web shown in Fig. 9.8.
Fox Sparrowhawk
Frog
Mouse Thrush
Grasshopper Rabbit Slug
: Fig. 9.8 A food web
Grass
• If a disease killed large numbers of rabbits, removing them from the food chain, more grass would grow.
• More grass would mean more food for grasshoppers and their numbers would increase. • Mice would have more grasshoppers to eat, so their numbers would also increase. • Fewer rabbits would mean less food for foxes, so their numbers would decrease.
? TEST TUBE
9. Explain what would happen if the first consumer were removed from the food chain you identified in question 8.