Lesson -Web of Life

PART-2
 These notes are for learning and not to be written in notebook.

FOOD CHAIN
A chain which tells the order in which living things depend on each other for
food is called a food chain.
In a food chain, there are-
1. Producers - Plants are known as producers. This is because they produce
their own food by the process of photosynthesis.
2. Consumers -Herbivores, carnivores and omnivores are consumers, because
they can’t make their own food. Their food can be both animals or plants.
3. Decomposers - Decomposers are often the final link in a food chain. They
eat dead plants and animals. When plants and animals die, decomposers
break down them and help to put nutrients back into the soil so that new
plants may grow. Then the food chain begins again. Examples of
decomposers are -worms, bacteria, and fungi.

PRODUCERS CONSUMERS DECOMPOSERS

A food chain is the transfer of food energy from plants to an animal and then to
another animal. It tells how different organisms eat each other.
Most food chains start with green plants (producers) and ends with animals
(consumer). And finally the decomposer eats consumer.
For example –
TERRESTRIAL FOOD CHAIN
1. Deer eats grass and lion eats deer. This forms a simple food chain where
each living thing is food for the next organism. When lion dies, decomposer
break down its body, returning it to the soil where it provides nutrients for
plants like grass to grow.

2. Grasshopper eats grass and frog eats grasshopper. The frog is eaten by
snake and snake is eaten by Hawk. This forms a chain where each living
thing is food for the next organism. When the eagle
dies, fungi (decomposer) break down its body, returning it to the soil where
it provides nutrients for plants.
More example-
AQUATIC FOOD CHAIN
In aquatic food chain, small fishes eat aquatic plants and big fishes eat
small fishes. Big fishes are eaten by shark. This forms a chain where each
living thing is food for the next organism.

FOOD WEB
A food web is a group of food chains in the environment. When many food
chains combine they form food web. Most living things eat more than one type of
animal or plant. So their food chains overlap and connect.
For example-
In this food web you can see there are many food chains connected to each
other. In this we can see eagle eats bird and rat both. So, this makes eagle a
part of two food chains and a food web.

COMPILED BY- PRIYANKA BHARDWAJ