SG: Marine Food Chains and biodiversity Flashcards
What are marine microbes?
Start the food chain and form base
Include bacteria and phytoplankton
Role of marine microbes at the start of the food chain
Produce oxygen and biomass to sustain terrestrial life
Process of photosynthesis
Why are krill an important part of the marine food chain?
Krill are a very important part of the marine food chain because they help nutrients move throughout the ocean
Oceans and our ecosystems on earth would shut down if they were not present in our food webs
Why are krill an important part of the marine food chain?
Krill keep fish, seals, penguins, seabirds, and whales alive
Antarctica ecosystem would fall apart without them
What role do marine microbes play at the end of the food chain?
They break down dead plant and animal material
Change it into a from where it can be reused as nutrients by phytoplankton and organisms
What is a whale fall and why is it an important part of the marine food chain?
A whale fall is when whales die, they sink and their carcasses fall as well. This is known as whale fall
Provide an abundance of nutrients for deepwater organisms
Can support them for decades
Microbes live off the energy released from these chemicals and form basis of ecosystems
primary producer
Organisms that produce food - phytoplankton, algae
primary consumer
Organisms that eat food primary producers - mussels, oysters
secondary consumer
Organisms that eat primary consumers - crab, lobster
tertiary consumer
Organisms that eat secondary consumers - dolphins, shark
apex predator
Top of food chain with no predators - shark, dolphin, orca
decomposer
Organisms that break down dead plant and animal to release energy and nutrients into ecosystem - bacteria, worms, fungi, crabs
