: the totality of interacting food chains in an ecological community
Example Sentences
Recent Examples on the WebThe sudden drop in light and ocean temperatures, especially from the Arctic to the North Atlantic and North Pacific oceans, would kill the marine algae, which is the foundation of the marine food web, essentially creating a famine in the ocean. David Bressan, Forbes, 7 July 2022 State scientists detailed how the project would cause substantial harm to fish larvae and plankton that make up the base of the marine food web. Ian James, Los Angeles Times, 12 May 2022 Rototilling disturbs the all-important soil food web. Jeff Lowenfels, Anchorage Daily News, 12 May 2022 Previous research suggests microplastics could disrupt zooplankton’s biological processes and affect Antarctic krill — which form the base of the continent’s food web. Evan Bush, NBC News, 9 June 2022 The shift in trout distribution in their natural habitats will ripple across the food web and affect the broad range of predators that feed on them, per National Geographic. Shi En Kim, Smithsonian Magazine, 9 July 2021 Scientists can estimate how high up in a food web an ancient animal would have been by using the ratio of N-15 to N-14 in fossils. Melissa Cristina Márquez, Forbes, 29 June 2022 Luna moths also are part of the food web, Kwiatkowski explained. Don Lyman, BostonGlobe.com, 16 June 2022 Increasing sea-surface temperatures, on the other hand, limit the nutrients available to foraging albatross by curbing the production of phytoplankton, which has cascading effects on the rest of the marine food web. Jack Tamisiea, Scientific American, 24 Nov. 2021 See More
Word History
First Known Use
1932, in the meaning defined above
Kids Definition
food web
noun
: the whole group of interacting food chains in a community