food webs
Interconnected eating patterns
A food web is the network of feeding relationships in an ecosystem—who eats whom.
Unlike a simple food chain, which traces a single path from plant to herbivore to predator, a food web maps the interconnected chains showing how energy flows through multiple pathways: The collapse of one species can ripple through the entire food web.
Those who create goods
- consumersThose who buy goods
- decomposersOrganisms breaking down dead material
- secondary consumersOrganisms eating primary consumers
- apex predatorsDominant hunters, no natural enemies
autotrophs · heterotrophs · detritivores · nodes · links · complexity · omnivory · network
Hunting and consuming prey
- herbivoryPlant consumption by animals
- parasitismOne benefits, one suffers
- competitionStruggle for supremacy
- mutualismTwo-way biological benefit
symbiosis · coevolution · foraging · grazing · scavenging · consumption · interference · exploitation
Movement of power through systems
- photosynthesisLight-to-sugar conversion in plants
- sunlightRadiance from our star
- biomassLiving material in aggregate
- caloric contentMeasured food energy
respiration · metabolism · productivity · energy budget · heat loss · assimilation · energy pyramid · consumption
Interconnected organisms and surroundings
- habitatOrganism's natural environment
- nicheRecessed wall space
- bioticRelating to life
- abioticNonliving, in ecology
community · stability · resilience · biodiversity · keystone species · ecological balance · disturbance · succession
Circulation of essential elements
- carbon cycleBiogeochemical element circulation process
- nitrogen cycleBiogeochemical element circulation
- decompositionBreakdown into simpler parts
- detritusLoose waste from decay
mineralization · biogeochemical · recycling · organic matter · remineralization · decay · leaching · uptake
producers
Those who create goods
- consumersThose who buy goods
- decomposersOrganisms breaking down dead material
- secondary consumersOrganisms eating primary consumers
apex predators · autotrophs · heterotrophs · detritivores · nodes · links · complexity · omnivory · network
predation
Hunting and consuming prey
- herbivoryPlant consumption by animals
- parasitismOne benefits, one suffers
- competitionStruggle for supremacy
mutualism · symbiosis · coevolution · foraging · grazing · scavenging · consumption · interference · exploitation · commensalism
energy flow
Movement of power through systems
- photosynthesisLight-to-sugar conversion in plants
- sunlightRadiance from our star
- biomassLiving material in aggregate
caloric content · respiration · metabolism · productivity · energy budget · heat loss · assimilation · energy pyramid · consumption
ecosystem
Interconnected organisms and surroundings
abiotic · community · stability · resilience · biodiversity · keystone species · ecological balance · disturbance · succession · carrying capacity
nutrient cycle
Circulation of essential elements
- carbon cycleBiogeochemical element circulation process
- nitrogen cycleBiogeochemical element circulation
- decompositionBreakdown into simpler parts
detritus · mineralization · biogeochemical · recycling · organic matter · remineralization · decay · leaching · uptake · sequestration
- science diagramsanatomical drawings, DNA helix, periodic table, star charts, circuit diagrams
- invertebrate ecologyecological niches, predator-prey, mutualism, parasitism, commensalism
- connectionslink, links, connect, connection, tie
- ecologyhabitat, ecosystem, balance, niche, water quality
- environmental scienceecology, air quality, ecosystem, water quality, ecosystems
- marine ecosystemsphytoplankton, oceans, zooplankton, marine life, krill
food webssymbiotic relationships
Mutually beneficial biological partnerships
food, web, foods, webs, webbed, webbing, interconnectedness, food web