A food chain is a series of organisms interrelated in their feeding habits, the smallest being fed upon by a larger one, etc. It basically shows how different animals get their food.
A food chain shows how animals get their energy, too. Food is the main source of energy for animals. A food chain will always start at the bottom with the producers. Producers are able to use light energy from the sun to produce food from carbon dioxide and water. Consumers eat these producers. There are three main groups of consumers in food chains called herbivores, carnivores, and omnivores. Herbivores eat strictly plants, carnivores only eat meat, and omnivores will eat both plants and other animals.
As an example, a food chain would start out with a blueberry bush. A white tailed deer would come along and eat a blueberry off that bush. A black bear would then eat the deer, thus consuming the energy that the blueberries supplied for the deer. That is an example of a food chain.
A food web, on the other hand, is a bit more complicated. The definition of a food web is a series of organisms related by predator-prey and consumer-resource interactions. In simpler words, a food web is a bunch of interconnected food chains.
Below are examples of a food chain and a food web.
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