Emmilei Thomas
Ocean Biome
Coral Reef Food Web
In my food web, the sun is the source of all energy, at the bottom. The producer is the Phytoplankton, and the first level consumers are mussels, zooplankton, and shrimp. The second level consumers are mussels, starfish, jellyfish, crab, and sea turtles. Finally, the tertiary consumer is the tiger shark.
Symbiotic Relationships - Mutualism
Mutualism is a relationship in which two organisms benefit from one another. For example, Clownfish and Sea Anemone. The fish get a home, and the anemone get occasional food and a guard for itself.
Symbiotic Relationships - Commensalism
Commensalism is a relationship where one organism benefits, and the other doesn't really care. For example, barnacles on whales. The barnacles benefits from the whales because they get a free ride to places, and the whale looks gross with the barnacles on it so other organisms stay away from it.
Symbiotic Relationships - Parasitism
Parasitism is a relationship between two organisms in which one benefits and the other completely resents it. For example, parasitic fish lice in the ocean. Parasitic fish lice attach themselves to a fish, and feed off of it. The lice enjoys it, while the fish does not want the lice's company.
How Are Humans Affecting The Environment?
Chemical pollution is one way humans are destroying the reefs. They throw out pesticides and fertilizers that trickle down into the reefs, and kill zooplankton. Another way humans are terrible people is by overfishing. A bunch of humans fish every single year and when they're too concentrated in one spot, the fish population decreases, leaving nothing for the tertiary consumers. Tourism is also something you have to be careful with. When tourists come to a reef, they do not know what to do and what not to do as far as preserving the environment goes. Some communities are thinking ahead and inform the tourists before visiting the coral reefs.
Favorite Organisms - Stingray
The stingray is probably one of my favorite organisms in my food web. It's so cute, I mean, just look at it. The stingray is sort of a tertiary consumer. It eats starfish, and occasionally gets eaten by tiger sharks, but not too often.
Favorite Organisms - Shrimp
The shrimp is a weird organism in looks, but is definitely delicious. The shrimp is a primary consumer,era in my food web, considering it eats the producer, phytoplankton. The shrimp gets eaten directly by crab and possibly stingray.
Favorite Organisms - Sea Turtle
The sea turtle was included mainly because this picture is adorable, but also because he is a tertiary consumer. He eats jellyfish, and probably ends up getting eaten by the tiger shark.