Food Web Case Study Essay

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 â€Å"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 types of food, searching for the same type of shelter can cause  issues between not only species, but the living organisms that thrive within these eco systems like plants. Plants are also in need of resources (BioTopic.com, 2014). Although their needs will differ from most animals, they are constantly in need of oxygen during daylight hours. Oxygen for plants is a source of nutrients and energy that allow them to grow and thrive. Resources that animals compete for (BioTopic.com, 2014) 1.Food 2.Water 3.Space 4.The opportunity to mate Resources that plants compete for (BioTopic.com, 2014) 1.The food that animals waste 2.Some plants are pollinated by animals 3.Water, Light, Minerals Food Webs Source web is a type of food web in which one or more types of prey are eaten by their predators and so forth up the food web. A community web will reveal a connection of who eats who. Energy flow web is a type of food web that will depict the energy amongst the consumer of the energy, and the source in which the energy is coming from. A Sink web is a type of web that illustrates this prey eating another prey, and this prey eating the next prey, and the next prey eating the next prey. Paleecological web will visualize the ecosystem showing pictures that depict all the way back to fossil. A functional web will resemble in look to that of the community web. It will show the relations between connections of predator/prey, energy flows, the smaller food web within the web, and a predictable pattern for what type of species need what types of food and natural resources. The most common of the food web are the community web and the functional web. They are the types of webs that most users are more familiar with in terms of what they are called and what they entail. Boxicity Tropic Status Trophic levels depict how the producers, carnivores, and the herbivore have similar yet different types of feeding positions. The First level consist of the plants, the second level consist of the herbivores, carnivores are definitely in the third level and sometimes the fourth. When one species or organism is located in the food web, they are ultimately participating in food transfers. Which is food chain going from species to species, or organism to organism. Rose Plant > Aphids > Beetle > Chameleon > Hawk (Bcb.com, 2014). The example listed here is a great example to use because it shows one organism eating another. Real Life Applications †¢Animals that fertilize the grass. †¢Grass that uses sunlight to grow †¢Animals that eat grass, and in turn produce milk, meat, or their fur coat. †¢I use myself for my last example. I am a human being, located within my own food web. I eat food that come animals. I need the oxygen that omits from trees and plants to survive. I go to work every day to provide for my family so that I can feed them. When I am applying for a job I am in competition with others that are looking to take care of their families, therefore we are in competition with each other. I consume the natural resources that my eco system has to offer. I eat animals that in turn may eat other animals. The image above is also a real world depiction that relates a directed multi graph that is the food web to a real world scenario to better understand the relations in a mathematical way. 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