What would happen if an organism was removed from a food web?

All of the living organisms within an ecosystem comprise a living community. Within the living community are feeding relationships that are known as food chains. However, usually there are several interacting food chains tied together in what is known as a food web. Consider the following food chain in a field. read more

Removing just one organism from a food web is potentially devastating to an ecosystem. This is because organisms in a food web are interconnected and rely on one another for survival. If one organism is removed, all other organisms become threatened. read more

It would cause a ripple effect throughout the rest of the web. The impact can vary, but most of the time, it will be noticeable in some way. This is what ecologists call a “cascade”. One example would be the removal of an apex predator, known as a top-down cascade. read more