Question

Loss of energy in a food web is n times the loss of energy in a food chain, i.e. loss of energy in a food web is more than that in a food chain.

Answer 1

1. In a food chain, energy is passed from one link to another.
2. When a herbivore eats, only a fraction of the energy (that it gets from the plant food) becomes new body mass; the rest of the energy is lost as waste or used up by the herbivore to carry out its life processes (e.g., movement, digestion, reproduction).
3. Most food chains have no more than four or five links
4. Most animals are part of more than one food chain and eat more than one kind of food in order to meet their food and energy requirements. These interconnected food chains form a food web.
Due to the above reasons, loss of energy in a food web is more than that in a food chain.