How do food webs compare to food chains in terms of biodiversity and complexity?

Food webs are indeed more complex and support greater biodiversity compared to food chains. A food chain illustrates a linear sequence of who-eats-who in an ecosystem, showing a single pathway of energy flow and feeding relationships among organisms. This simplicity means that food chains are limited in representing the various interactions that can occur in a natural ecosystem.

In contrast, food webs consist of multiple interconnected food chains, illustrating how various species are interconnected through various feeding relationships. This complexity allows food webs to capture the multitude of interactions and dependencies that exist in ecosystems, which include herbivores, carnivores, omnivores, and decomposers interacting with one another. Because food webs encompass a broader range of species and interactions, they inherently support higher biodiversity. The presence of multiple pathways for energy flow in a food web helps maintain ecosystem stability and resilience, as it limits the potential impact of the loss of any single species on the overall system.

Thus, the nature of food webs allows for greater complexity in ecological relationships, which directly correlates with higher biodiversity in ecosystems.