Aadya Isai

Dead matter:

• Dead matter refers to organic material from once-living organisms (plants, animals, waste) that is no longer alive and is in the process of breaking down

• Simpler words - Dead matter is anything that was once alive—like plants, animals, or waste—that has stopped living and is now slowly being broken down and recycled by nature.

Organic matter:

• Organic matter (OM) refers to carbon-based compounds from decomposed plants, animals, and microorganisms.

• Simpler words - Organic matter is made of carbon-based materials that come from plants, animals, and microorganisms after they die and start to break down.

Food web:

• A food web is a natural map of interconnected food chains in an ecosystem, showing the complex feeding relationships and energy flow between different organisms, from producers (plants) up through various levels of consumers (herbivores, carnivores, omnivores) to decomposers.

• Simpler words - A food web is a network of connected food chains that shows who eats whom in an ecosystem and how energy moves from plants to animals and finally to decomposers.

Food chain:

• A food chain is a linear sequence showing how energy and nutrients move through an ecosystem as one organism eats another.