Simple Coral Reef Ecosystem Food Web

Abalone dugongs and sea urchins are primary consumers in the great barrier reef and more generally in coral reefs.

Simple coral reef ecosystem 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. Coral reefs grow very slowly. Zooplankton sponges smaller fish and coral polyps. The fan worm is eaten by the tertiary consumer the puffer fish.

Zooplankton microscopic organisms shrimp clams and other crustaceans are also primary consumers. Primary consumers are in turn eaten by fish small sharks corals and baleen whales. The sea sponge is eaten by the angelfish. Secondary consumers in the great barrier reef sea stars parrot fish and whale sharks are all secondary consumers.

Like the phytoplanktons these too are found in the upper surface of the water. They are eaten by primary consumers like zooplankton small fish and crustaceans. Primary consumers mainly feed on producers. Producers make up the first trophic level.

Zooplankton provide food for fish. For example a queen conch can be both a consumer and a detritivore or decomposer. Some animals in the coral reef have symbiotic relationships. Fishes and other organisms shelter find food reproduce and rear their young in the many nooks and crannies formed by corals.

Scientists estimate that if there are a million producers algae phytoplankton and sea grass in a food web there may only be 10 000 herbivores. Finally the angelfish the blue chromis and the butterfly fish are all consumed by the tertiary consumer the reef shark. Large reefs grow at the rate of 1 to 2 cm per year. All these organisms support only one apex predator such as a person.

Larger fish stingrays octopi and squid make up the secondary consumers while sharks are the. The coral polyps are eaten by a tertiary consumer the sea slug. 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. It s estimated that some of the largest reefs took as long as 30 million years to form.

Similarly a single organism can serve more than one role in a food web. Marine food webs are usually longer than terrestrial food webs. A simple diagram of the great barrier reef s food chain. Squids crustaceans and small fish like sardines fall into the category of the oceanic primary consumers.

This means they help each other to survive. Top ocean predators include large sharks billfish dolphins toothed whales and large seals. Food webs consist of different organism groupings called trophic levels. In this example of a coral reef there are producers consumers and decomposers.

Such a food web may support 100 secondary consumers such as tuna.