A network of interconnected food chains

• A. Food web
• B. Food chain
• C. Producer
• D. Decomposer

Answer: (A)

A network of interconnected food chains is called a food web. In ecosystems, energy moves through multiple feeding relationships: producers capture energy from the sun, herbivores eat those producers, and various predators eat those herbivores. Because many organisms have more than one food source and many predators target multiple prey, the overall set of connections forms a web rather than a single, linear chain. This broader view helps explain how changes to one species can ripple through multiple pathways in the ecosystem. The other terms describe simpler ideas: a food chain is just a linear sequence of who eats whom; a producer is the base organism that begins energy flow; a decomposer breaks down dead material and recycles nutrients.