Marine food webs describe how energy and matter move among ocean organisms. This lesson introduces food chains, trophic levels, and the ways real feeding relationships make food webs more complex than simple diagrams.
A food chain is a sequence of organisms through which food and energy pass. A food web is a network of connected food chains. Because many marine organisms eat several kinds of prey and are eaten by several kinds of predators, the web is a better representation of nature than a single line.
All flashcards
Marine food web
A network of connected food chains that shows feeding relationships and energy and matter flow.
Fractional trophic position
A feeding position between levels when a consumer eats prey from multiple trophic levels.
Microbial loop
Pathways through which microbes use dissolved organic matter and pass material to other consumers.
Viral shunt
The redirection of cell contents into dissolved organic matter after viral lysis.
Foundation species and keystone species
Foundation species structure habitats; keystone species have effects disproportionate to their abundance.
Quiz questions
What role do bacteria and archaea play in the marine microbial loop?Answer: They use dissolved organic matter and can pass material to consumers.
What happens to material during the viral shunt?Answer: Viral lysis releases cell contents into dissolved organic matter.
How does the mycoloop connect phytoplankton with zooplankton?Answer: Fungal zoospores provide zooplankton with prey derived from infected phytoplankton.
What is the whale pump?Answer: The transport of nutrients from depth toward surface waters by whales.
Which description identifies a keystone species?Answer: Its ecological effect is disproportionately large relative to its abundance.
Based on the Wikipedia article Marine food web, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Adapted into a summary, flashcards and quizzes.