Explain the theory in your own words based on the case study and suggested readings.
A food web is a type of graph that depicts the relationship between the prey and the predators, also known as a system of food chains and how one another are related. This can be better explained as a connection in a community. Food webs are important because it is a direct illustration of the relationships among certain species within a certain community. Right away the graph will reveal the type of species, what they interact with, the structure in which the environment they are located, and show the relations between each species. Because it is called a food web, the name has already shown that the relationship that will be represented will be a relationship concerning food. Within any given food web, there can very possibly be more than one food chain located inside of the actual food web itself. The different types of food webs will pertain specifically to that environment only. Ecological interactions determine flow of the food web. Food webs will vary from simple to complex dependent on the type of food web being viewed.
Competition
“Animals need air to breathe as a source of food, to eat to provide certain minerals to provide some of the body’s needs and to drink (BioTopic.com, 2014).” Because the needs vary from one species to another, there comes the need to compete for many things for the need to survive. Even if this means that the species themselves are considered part of the food web as a meal for a larger species. With not only the competition to survive to make it out alive through another day, there is the need to create a family and also find a safe place to live (BioTopic.com, 2014).
Because these animals have mates to take care of, children to feed, and the need to protect what is theirs comes a whole new definition of the word competition. Many competitors within the food chain can at times be after the same
References: Bcb.com. Tropic levels. Retrieved on April 14. 2014. Retrieved from: http://www.bcb.uwc.ac.za/sci_ed/grade10/ecology/trophics/troph.htm Biotopics.com. Competition. Retrieved on April 14, 2014. Retrieved From: http://www.biotopics.co.uk/newgcse/Competition.html Figures Retrieved From: www.googleimages.com file:///C:/Users/Green/Downloads/mth221_r2_food_webs_case_study.pdf McGuigan, Robert A. 13 Food Webs. Retrieved on April 14, 2014. Retrieved from: http://highered.mcgraw-hill.com/sites/dl/free/0073383090/299355/Apps_Ch13.pdf