Jennifer Soto
Estuary Biome
Estuary Food Web
How is the energy passed on?
An estuary biome is where a river meets the ocean. This results in brackish water which includes salt and fresh water. In the estuary biome, the sun gives off energy to the producers so they can make their food through photosynthesis. In this biome, the producers are diatoms, grass, and algae or seaweed. These producers then give their energy to primary consumers, which normally consist of herbivores. This includes the cricket, fish and zooplankton. Then those animals give their energy to secondary consumers which includes: the heron, frog, and duck. Next, the energy is passed on to the tertiary consumers when they consume the secondary. Some tertiary consumers are the snake and estuarine crocodile. Finally, the decomposer is the bacteria living at the bottom of the river. The bacteria decompose the dead remnants of animals. There are some exceptions such as the fish can be a secondary consumer, and the heron can be tertiary. As well as the crocodile being quaternary.
Symbiotic Relationships
Mutualism
Mutualism is where both organisms benefit. In the picture above, the bird is feeding of the crocodile's left over meal bits, and the crocodile gets a cleaning.
Commensalism
Commensalism is when one organism benefits while the other organism is neither helped or harmed. For example, the barnacles on the whale get a free ride while the whale is unaffected.
Parasitism
Parasitism is when an organism benefits but the other does not. For instance, the parasite enters through the fish's gills and feeds on the fish itself. However, the fish or host is harmed.
Humans Impacting the Environment
How do we impact the environment?
As organisms, humans, we impact the environment daily either positively or negatively. Everyday our thrash hurts or kills animals without knowing. When we don't pick up after ourselves, the run off picks up the thrash eventually dumping in to the ocean. Even if you live miles away from the ocean, you are still harming. For example, a bird eating a plastic piece thinking it's food. Also, we over fertilize or let the car's oil leak. This later seeps into the dirt, and harms ours and other animals' drinking water. We also over use fossil fuels which causes pollution. In contrast, we sometimes impact our environment positively. For example, when we recycle, we are decreasing the number of thrash that is in our landfills. This also prevents from animals harming themselves with our plastic products. We also sometimes use natural resources therefore not polluting the air with fossil fuels. For instance, using solar panels, and wind mills etc.
Roles in the Food Web
Algae
The algae plays the role of the producer. This organism creates its own food through photosynthesis. This organism gives its energy to a secondary consumer, such as the fish.
Fish
Fish play the role of primary consumer. It is the first to receive energy from the producer. The fish later is consumed by the heron.
Heron
The heron is a secondary consumer. It was second to received from the producer. Since it was second, it got less energy than the fish, according to the 10% rule.