Food Web
Above is a food web of the intertidal biome. Within it are a variety of different species, which all obtain their food in different ways. A consumer is anything living that cannot produce their own food. All animals are consumers, since we are unable to make our own food. Plants however are autotrophs, and are capable of producing their own food through photosynthesis.
The herring gull is the top predator in this biome. His prey are the edible crab, the common limpet, the common dog whelk, the worm, the common prawn, and the shanny. The flat periwinkle is a herbivore, because they only eat the seaweed, which is a plant. The shanny on the other hand, is a carnivore, since it only eats the worm, acorn barnacle, and common prawn, which are all animals. The acorn barnacle is an omnivore, since it eats both plants and animals. The phytoplankton is a plant, and the zooplankton is an animal. Some organisms are scavengers, which means that they feed on the carcases of dead animals. Decomposers feed on organic waste and break it down into inorganic material which can be used by producers. An indicator species, is a species that if it was removed would completely destroy the ecosystem and cause it to die off. In this food web, the indicator species is the phytoplankton. Every organism on the food map either directly ate the phytoplankton, or ate an animal which ate the phytoplankton. The keystone species, is a species that when removed from the ecosystem, allow their prey to build up and explode in the population. The herring gull is an example of a keystone species. If he was removed, then the edible crab, worm, common prawns, and shanny populations would grow. The common crab and shanny's populations would have the greatest increase in size, since the herring gull was their only predator, and it has been removed from the ecosystem. |
Symbiotic Relationships
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