In many cases the food chains of the ecosystems do not exist as individual units. They overlap and interconnect, forming what are known as food webs. In nature there are several food webs interlinked and existing at the same time in different habitats. The different food chains that of varying lengths, those that form loops and others that branch out into a network together create food webs or the webs of life within ecosystems.
For instance in the chain mentioned above, hawk might directly decompose the grasshopper or bacteria might consume rabbit without waiting for the wolf to consume the rabbit. Here is an example of interlinked food chains. i.e. a food web.
