Food Webs
Elementary School
Definition
Interconnected food chains that show how energy and nutrients flow among the organisms in an ecosystem. Because most animals eat more than one kind of food, food webs give a more complete picture than a single food chain.
Worked examples
Grass → grasshopper → frog → snake → hawk, and grass → grasshopper → bird → hawk
Two chains intersect because the hawk eats both snakes and birds, showing interconnected feeding relationships.
Algae → zooplankton → small fish → large fish, and algae → small fish → large fish
The small fish can eat algae directly or zooplankton, illustrating multiple energy pathways in an aquatic ecosystem.
Common mistakes
- drawing arrows pointing from predator to prey → arrows point from food source to consumer (prey to predator) Arrows show energy flow, which moves from what is eaten to what eats it.
- thinking a food web is just several separate food chains side by side → organisms are shared across chains, creating an interconnected network Food webs show that most organisms eat multiple foods and are eaten by multiple predators.
- assuming removing one species won't affect the rest of the web → removing a species disrupts multiple feeding relationships and energy pathways Because organisms are interconnected, changes ripple through the entire ecosystem.
Where you'll use it next
You'll use food webs when studying ecosystem stability, biodiversity, trophic levels, and energy pyramids in ecology, and later when analyzing human impacts on ecosystems and conservation.
See also
Reviewed by Pat Cheng, M.Ed. — StudyPug Curriculum Lead · Last updated June 6, 2026