A branching network formed by interconnected food chains is called:

Concept

A food chain shows one linear route through which food energy passes from one organism to another.

When several food chains overlap because organisms have multiple feeding relationships, those linked pathways form a network called a food web.

Application

The phrase “branching network” indicates that the feeding path is not a single line; it divides and reconnects through several organisms. This is the defining structure of a food web.

Contrast

• Food system is a broader term for the production, distribution, consumption, and disposal of food.

• Food level denotes an organism’s feeding position in a chain, commonly called a trophic level.

• More than one of the above would require at least two listed terms to denote the same branching ecological network.

• None of the above would apply only if no listed term denoted that network.

Cross-check and result

A linear route is a food chain, whereas an interconnected set of branching routes is a food web. Therefore, the required term is food web.