Food web
The network of who-eats-whom that moves energy and matter through an ecosystem.
At a glance
Key signals
14% cross fields · reaches 13 more
- Ecology
- Biology
- Systems Biology
- Explanation
- Examples
- Misconception
- Sourced relations 7
- Attribution
Dependencies
What this concept builds on and what it makes possible — derived from the atlas’s dependency, causal and structural relations, not from every related edge.
Enables · leads to
Food webenablesEnergy transferEstablished
A food web is how energy is transferred through an ecosystem.
Mechanism: Each time one organism eats another, chemical energy passes up the web — most of it lost as heat, which is why food chains are short.
- Biology 2e (OpenStax) (2018) verified
System context
Food webis aNetworkEstablished
A food web is a network of feeding links.
Mechanism: A food web is a network: species are nodes and eating relationships are the links, forming a web of energy flow through an ecosystem.
- Biology 2e (OpenStax) (2018) verified
Carnivoreis part ofFood webEstablished
carnivore is part of Food web.
Mechanism: A carnivore is a predator node in a food web: it eats other animals, linking many chains of who-eats-whom together.
- Biology 2e (OpenStax) (2018) verified
Decomposeris part ofFood webEstablished
decomposer is part of Food web.
Mechanism: Decomposers close the food web by breaking dead matter back into nutrients producers can reuse.
- Biology 2e (OpenStax) (2018) verified
Food chainis part ofFood webEstablished
A food chain is one path through a food web.
Mechanism: A food chain is one path through a food web: a single line of who-eats-whom, while the web bundles many such chains together.
- Biology 2e (OpenStax) (2018) verified
Predationis part ofFood webEstablished
predation is part of Food web.
Mechanism: Predation is the eating relationship that wires a food web together, connecting predators to the prey that feed them.
- Biology 2e (OpenStax) (2018) verified
Structural role & consequence
Interpreted from the current atlas graph — what the connections mean, not just how many there are.
14% of its relationships cross field boundaries, reaching 13 other disciplines — unusual in a discipline where most concepts stay within their field.
structural · Structural graph analysis — not a claim of importance, causation or history.
Directly enables 1 concept; following enables/causes relations, 1 concept is downstream across 5 disciplines.
structural · Follows only enables/causes dependency edges — not general relatedness.
Currently dark in the atlas: no key date stored · 7 of 7 of its relations lack claim-level evidence.
atlas representation · Describes the current Thinking OS representation, not the state of the world.
Exercises 2 annotated mental models — a concept that connects several thinking patterns.
curated · Curated annotations, not a derived measure.
cross-field
6 within-field, 1 cross-field
Strengths & constraints
Constraints
- Evidence coverage currently thin in the atlas — few of its relationships carry claim-level evidence. atlas representation
- No dated history stored — the atlas records no key date for this concept. atlas representation
Conditions
- Read structurally — most of its relationships carry no external evidence yet, so claims here are graph-derived. structural
Dependency radial
What this concept builds on (left) and what it makes possible (right) — derived from dependency and causal relations.
Seen through each discipline
How this concept sits in each of its fields — derived from its real connections in the graph, not asserted.
Through this lens it connects to Population growth, Decomposer, Predation and Carnivore.
Through this lens it connects to Energy transfer, Population growth, Food chain and Decomposer.
Food web is studied in this field.
Related ideas to explore
Concepts that look related but are not yet connected here — candidates for a connection to reason about, not established links.
This idea also appears in…
The same structure shows up in other disciplines. These are real recurrences drawn from the graph — a starting point for asking “what carries over, and what changes?”
Networks47 disciplines · 34 concepts
Energy transformation32 disciplines · 49 concepts
Concepts
shares a mental model · crosses a discipline boundary
shares a mental model
shares a mental model
shares a mental model
shares a mental model
shares a mental model
Mental models at work here
Networks
A set of parts connected so that a change in one can spread to others through the links.
Follow the links: who is connected to whom, and what can travel along those connections?
Energy transformation
Energy is never created or destroyed; it changes from one form into another, and some is always lost as heat.
Follow the energy: where did it come from, what form is it in now, and where does it go next?
- Connects 7 other ideas across 5 disciplines.
- A cross-disciplinary bridge — its connections reach into 13 other fields.
- Most of its connections are of the “Kind & structure” kind.
- It exercises 2 reusable thinking patterns.
Derived from the graph’s real structure — observations, not a score.
Sources
- Biology 2e (OpenStax) (2018) verified