A food chain shows the linear feeding relationships between species in a community

• Arrows represent the transfer of energy and biomass as one organism is eaten by another (arrows point in direction of energy flow)
  

• The first organism in a food chain is always a producer, followed by consumers (primary, secondary, tertiary, etc.)
  

A food web is a diagram that shows how food chains are linked together into more complex feeding relationships

• A food web is more representative of actual feeding pathways because organisms can have multiple food sources and more than one predator
  

• This means that, unlike a food chain, organisms in a food web can occupy more than one trophic level
  

  • Hint: When constructing food webs, position organisms at their highest trophic level (keeps all arrows pointing in same direction)