"FOOD WEB"

VOCABULARY

food web: the interconnected food chains between organisms in a community
predator: an animal that captures and eats another animal
prey: an animal that is hunted and eaten by another animal
parasitism: A relationship between two organisms in which one (the parasite) infects or attaches to another (the host), and the host organism is harmed in the process.
herbivores: organisms that eat plants, algae or phytoplankton


BACKGROUND INFORMATION

Almost all animals must eat other organisms to obtain energy. Animals do not generally eat just one thing, nor are they eaten by only one thing. This means that each organism, through feeding, is interconnected to many different organisms. This interconnection is called a food web.

When an animal captures and eats another animal, it is a predator. The animal which is hunted is called the prey. Notice that an animal can be both a predator and a prey. For example, a small fish may eat certain types of snails, but he may also be eaten by an octopus. So the fish is both predator and prey. The key to survival is to be a successful predator without becoming a prey. (Some biologists consider herbivores to also be predators, and parasitism, in which one organism infects another and does it harm, is also considered to be a form of predation.)