Explain what happens when food chains overlap in an ecosystem. Name the three components of a food web in an ecosystem. Almost everything in nature works in a cycle. Plants and animals live, die, and decompose only to be recycled again. In nature the plants or producers make the food.
Animals eat the producers or other animals.
An animal that eats only other animals is called a carnivore. Animals that eat only plants are called herbivores. Omnivores are animals that consume both plants and animals. As each living thing eats another, energy and materials are passed among them. The path that passes this energy and material is called a food chain.