Food Webs 101

You may have seen a food chain before. A food chain is like a single strand in a spider’s web - it’s just one piece of many that work together to make up the whole web.

Here is an example of a cougar’s food chain. The orange arrows shows how the energy travels. 

1. Sun provides energy to the blackberry.

2. Blackberry provides energy to the deer.

3. Deer provides energy to the cougar

Cougars are predators temperate rainforest ecosystems. Another predator in this ecosystem is a barn owl. This is one possible food chain for a barn owl.

This is how the energy moves through this food chain:

1. Sun -> Clovers

2. Clover -> Rabbit

3. Rabbit -> Barn owl

Another predator in this ecosystem is a red fox. This one possible food chain for a red fox.

This is how the energy moves through this food chain:

1. Sun -> Acorns

2. Acorns -> Squirrel

3. Squirrel -> Red fox

Food webs show how organisms get energy throughout the ecosystem - not just one possible option. This is an image of the food web made from those three separate food chains.

You can see that it is much more complex than a simple food chain is. The thinner arrows show how the food chains connect.