Food Web Explorer

About this simulation

Every living thing in three habitats sits in a web of who eats whom, with the sun at the top and decomposers in the soil. Pick an animal to light up its food and its predators, switch species off to start a chain reaction, and compare the energy held at each level of the energy pyramid.

What students can explore

What happens to the rabbits when the foxes disappear?
Why are there fewer top predators than plants?
What do decomposers do for the plants?
Which way do the arrows in a food web point?

Learning objectives

1Sort living things into producers, herbivores, carnivores, omnivores and decomposers.
2Read a food web, knowing that each arrow points from the food to the eater.
3Predict how removing one species changes the others, and explain why energy limits the top of a food chain.

Questions teachers ask

What is the difference between a food chain and a food web?

A food chain is one path of energy, such as grass to rabbit to fox. A food web joins all the chains in a habitat, because most animals eat, and are eaten by, more than one living thing.

Why do the arrows point from the food to the eater?

The arrows show which way the energy goes. When a rabbit eats grass, the energy in the grass moves into the rabbit, so the arrow points from the grass to the rabbit.

Why are there so few top predators?

Only about a tenth of the energy at one level passes up to the next; the rest is used for living, growing and keeping warm. By the top of the web there is only enough energy for a few hunters.

Embed this simulation

Drop it into your LMS, blog, or class site — free.

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Continue exploring

Preview of Food Webs Interactive Simulation

Free interactive food webs simulation. Explore food webs hands-on online — great for whole-class or independent practice.

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