What are the similarities between food chain and food web?

While they look different, food chains and food webs share several important characteristics:

• Show Energy Flow: Both are diagrams that illustrate the path of energy transfer in an ecosystem.
• Start with Producers: Both systems begin at the first trophic (feeding) level with producers—organisms like plants or algae that create their own food.
• Include Consumers: Both include different types of consumers (primary, secondary, tertiary) that get energy by eating other organisms.
• Illustrate Feeding Relationships: Both models show the predator-prey relationships between different species in a habitat.
• Decomposers are Key: In both systems, decomposers (like bacteria and fungi) are the final step, breaking down dead organisms and returning nutrients to the soil for producers to use again.