Ecosystem Coral Reef Food Web

The ecosystem of the great barrier reef is a delicate and fragile balance with a food chain that has multiple levels in which every part is reliant on everything else.

Ecosystem coral reef food web. Coral belongs to the class anthozoa in the animal phylum cnidaria which includes sea anemones and jellyfish unlike sea anemones corals secrete hard carbonate. Similarly a single organism can serve more than one role in a food web. They are also are a source of food and new medicines. Producers make up the first trophic level.

Fishing diving and snorkeling on and near reefs add hundreds of millions of dollars to local businesses. Zooplankton sponges smaller fish and coral polyps. Food webs in a coral reef ecosystem a food web is a system of interlocking and interdependent food chains. From the largest apex predators such as the white tipped reef shark all the way down to microscopic organisms called phytoplankton no one marine creature could exist without another and this is reflected in that if one life form becomes endangered the rest of the reef suffers.

A food web is a diagram that shows the transfer of energy between species in an ecosystem. Abalone dugongs and sea urchins are primary consumers in the great barrier reef and more generally in coral reefs. The trophic level of an organism is the position it occupies in the food chain. For example a queen conch can be both a consumer and a detritivore or decomposer.

By sampling the rubs structures over time the team were able to identify changes in the cryptic population adding pieces to the puzzle and filling in the unknowns of coral reef food webs said wolfe. A food web is a diagram showing the transfer of energy between species. Fishes play a vital role in the reef s food web acting as both predators and prey. In each food web there are several trophic levels.

Primary consumers eat the producers and secondary consumers eat the primary consumers. Over half a billion people depend on reefs for food income and protection. Food webs consist of different organism groupings called trophic levels. What is a food web.

In this example of a coral reef there are producers consumers and decomposers. These are the questions we ll answer as we explore the food web and ecosystem of coral reefs. Coral reefs protect coastlines from storms and erosion provide jobs for local communities and offer opportunities for recreation. This clam may reach a length of 4 ft.

A coral reef is an underwater ecosystem characterized by reef building corals reefs are formed of colonies of coral polyps held together by calcium carbonate most coral reefs are built from stony corals whose polyps cluster in groups. The 3d printed coral mimicked surrounding reef rubble and invited unwitting reef organisms to be monitored. Tertiary consumers eat both primary and secondary consumers and keep the food web in balance. One of the largest molluscs on the reef is the giant clam.