Food chains Vs Food webs

FOOD CHAINS FOLLOW A SINGLE PATH AS ANIMALS EAT EACH OTHER.
Example:
GRASS manufactures its food using SUNLIGHT, WATER, NUTRIENTS from soil and CHLOROPHYLL
The GRASS is eaten by a GRASSHOPPER
The GRASSHOPPER is eaten by a FROG
The FROG is eaten by a SNAKE
The SNAKE is eaten by a HAWK.

FOOD WEBS SHOW HOW PLANTS & ANIMALS ARE INTERCONNECTED BY DIFFERENT PATHS.
Example:
TREES produce ACORNS which act as food for many MICE and INSECTS.
Because there are many MICE, WEASELS and SNAKES have food.
The insects and the acorns also attract BIRDS, SKUNKS, and OPOSSUMS.
With the SKUNKS, OPPOSUMS, WEASELS and MICE around, HAWKS, FOXES, and OWLS can find food.
They are all connected! Like a spiders web, hence it is called a FOOD WEB.

In a food chain, any disturbance in the food supply affects the entire food chain. However in the food web, any disturbance in the food supply is compensated by other organisms available as food at the same trophic level.

Food webs are far more complex than the simple food chain

Several interconnected food chains form a food web.

The real world we find food webs everywhere. Food chain is only a simplistic view of the complex real world phenomena.