aquatic food chain

Content

• Difference between chain and food web
• aquatic food chain
• primary producers
• primary consumers
• Secondary consumers
• tertiary consumers
• Examples of aquatic food chain

There is a branch of ecology, called synecology, which studies the relationships that exist between ecosystems and communities of individuals. Within synecology, we find a part responsible for the studies of the relationships between living beings, including food relationships, which are summarized in food chains, such as the aquatic food chain.

Synecology explains that food chains are the way in which energy and matter move from one productive stage to another, also considering energy losses, such as respiration. In this PeritoAnimal article, we'll explain what a aquatic food chain, starting with the definition of food chain and food web.

Difference between chain and food web

First, to understand the complexity of aquatic food chains, it is necessary know the differences between food chains and food webs and what each of them consists of.

One food chain shows how matter and energy move within an ecosystem through different organisms, in a linear and unidirectional way, always starting with a be autotrophic which is the main producer of matter and energy, since it is capable of transforming inorganic matter into organic and non-assimilable energy sources, such as the conversion of sunlight into ATP (adenosine triphosphate, the energy source of living beings). The matter and energy created by the autotrophic beings will pass to the rest of the heterotrophs or consumers, who can be primary, secondary and tertiary consumers.

On the other hand, a food web or food web it is a set of food chains that are interconnected, showing a much more complex movement of energy and matter. Trophic networks reveal what really happens in nature, as they represent the multiple relationships between living beings.

aquatic food chain

The basic layout of a food chain does not vary much between a terrestrial and an aquatic system, the most severe differences are found at the level of species and the amount of accumulated biomass, being greater in terrestrial ecosystems. Below we will mention some species in the aquatic food chain:

primary producers

In the aquatic food chain, we find that primary producers are the algae, whether unicellular, such as those belonging to the phyla Glaucophyte, rhodophyta and Chlorophyta, or multicellular, those of the superphylum heterokonta, which are the algae that we can see with the naked eye on beaches, etc. Furthermore, we can find bacteria at this level of the chain, the cyanobacteria, which also carry out photosynthesis.

primary consumers

The primary consumers of the aquatic food chain are usually herbivorous animals that feed on microscopic or macroscopic algae and even bacteria. This level usually consists of zooplankton and others herbivorous organisms.

Secondary consumers

Secondary consumers stand out as carnivorous animals, feeding on lower level herbivores. They can be fish, arthropods, water birds or mammals.

tertiary consumers

Tertiary consumers are the super carnivores, carnivorous animals that feed on other carnivores, those that form the link of secondary consumers.

In the food chain, we can see that the arrows indicate a unidirectional direction:

Examples of aquatic food chain

there are different degrees of complexity in food chains. Here are some examples:

1. The first example of an aquatic food chain consists of two calls. This is the case for phytoplankton and whales. Phytoplankton is the main producer and whales are the only consumer.
2. These same whales can form a chain of three calls if they feed on zooplankton instead of phytoplankton. So the food chain would look like this: phytoplankton > zooplankton > whale. The direction of the arrows indicates where energy and matter are moving.
3. In an aquatic and terrestrial system, such as a river, we can find a chain of four links: phytoplankton > molluscs of the genus Lymnaea > barbels (fish, barbus barbus) > gray herons (Cinérea Ardea).
4. An example of a chain of five links where we can see a supercarnivore is as follows: Phytoplankton > krill > emperor penguin (Aptenodytes forsteri) > leopard seal (Hydrurga leptonyx) > orca (orcinus orca).

In a natural ecosystem, relationships are not so simple. Food chains are made to simplify trophic relationships and so we can understand them more easily, but food chains interact with each other within a complex web of food webs. One of the examples of an aquatic food web can be the following drawing, where we can see how a food chain is integrated and several arrows that indicate a higher number of food interactions and energy flows between beings:

If you want to read more articles similar to aquatic food chain, we recommend that you enter our Curiosities section of the animal world.