A food web is the set of dependency relationships within a biological community. Said in a very direct and unscientific way, it is the study of who eats whom in a natural habitat.
We speak of a network because the species in a habitat are connected to each other. And the web is classified as food because all species need nourishment to survive. Consider a toad that lives in a pond. This animal is an element of a network and its natural predator (for example, a snake) is another element of the same network and both are connected to each other, since one feeds on the other.
Decomposers in the food web
A food web is also made up of dead animals and plants, which are used by decomposers (bacteria and fungi), which are invisible but essential in food webs.
On the other hand, the role of solar energy in natural processes must be taken into account, since they affect both plants and animals.
Food web, and understanding the pyramid
The concept of a food web is also known as a food web and works with a pyramidal type scheme in which all the parts are interconnected. In fact, if one species ceases to exist for some reason, the remaining species are no longer in balance and may eventually disappear. Among the main threats that affect food webs, two could be highlighted: drought and human intervention in the natural environment.
Network operation
The pyramid-shaped interrelation between living beings within a network results in a food chain. Thus, in the first place would be the producers (the plants that produce food). In second place are first-order consumers (herbivorous animals that consume plant food). Third, there are second-order consumers, which are carnivorous animals that feed on herbivorous animals.
In the next phase of the network, scavengers or third-order consumers appear, which are those that feed on other dead animals in a state of putrefaction. Finally, decomposers are involved, animals that are responsible for decomposing organic waste from animal remains so that such waste returns to nature (for example, worms, worms or insects).
The cycle of the food chain is a network of relationships and competition between living beings that coexist in a given ecosystem.
