What is a food web?

• A. A single linear chain of who eats whom.
• B. A model showing multiple feeding relationships in an ecosystem.
• C. The amount of energy stored in an ecosystem.
• D. The rate of photosynthesis in producers.

Answer: (B)

A food web shows the network of feeding relationships in an ecosystem. It represents how energy and nutrients move through many connections, with organisms often having multiple prey and multiple predators, linking producers, various consumers, and decomposers. This interconnected view captures the real complexity of how ecosystems function, unlike a single linear chain that only traces one path of who eats whom. The other ideas describe different concepts: a straight line of who eats whom is a simplified food chain, the amount of energy stored is about stored energy or biomass, and the rate of photosynthesis concerns how producers capture light energy.