Food chains and food webs are both important ideas in ecology, which is the study of how living things interact with each other and their environment. But these two concepts are different in some ways.

Food Chain:

• A food chain is a simple and straightforward line.
• It shows how energy moves from one living thing to another.
• For example, it can look like this: Grass → Rabbit → Fox.

Food Web:

• A food web is more complex and looks like a big network.
• It is made up of many food chains that are connected together.
• This shows the many different ways animals and plants eat each other in an ecosystem.

Trophic Levels:

• Both food chains and food webs show trophic levels.
• Trophic levels include:
  • Producers (like plants)
  • Primary consumers (like rabbits that eat plants)
  • Secondary consumers (like foxes that eat rabbits)

Energy Flow:

• As you go up the trophic levels, the energy decreases.
• Only about 10% of the energy from one level gets passed on to the next level.

Knowing about food chains and food webs helps us understand how ecosystems stay balanced!