Ecology — Test

Question 6 • Biology

What is the difference between food chains and food webs?

Answer

Food chains show a single path of energy in an ecosystem, and food webs show overlapping pathways of energy in that ecosystem.

Food webs show the flow of energy from producers to consumers, and food chains show the flow of energy from consumers to producers.

Heat is lost when energy is passed on to the next trophic level in food chains, but in food webs, heat is not lost when energy is passed on to the next trophic level.

About ten percent of the energy is passed on to the next trophic level in food webs, but in food chains, about ninety percent is passed on to the next trophic level.

Explanation

A food chain shows one pathway through which energy moves from one organism to another in an ecosystem. A food web connects many food chains, showing the overlapping pathways among organisms. Both describe energy flow, so choices claiming that energy transfer works differently in chains and webs are incorrect.

AI-written and checked against the verified answer.

More from this Course

Test

Practice Test

Exam