A complex network of interconnected food chains showing how energy and nutrients flow through an ecosystem. Food webs illustrate the multiple feeding relationships between different species in a community.
Compound term from 'food' (Old English 'foda') and 'web' (Old English 'webb' meaning woven fabric). The ecological concept was developed in the early 20th century, with Charles Elton pioneering the idea of interconnected feeding relationships in the 1920s.
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