Antarctica Food Webs

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Antarctica food webs. There are two reasons that they have managed to attain such enormous size well over a hundred tonnes for the largest blue whales and nearing this amount for some other whale species. Through photosynthesis microscopic plants called phytoplankton that float near the water s surface trap and use the sun s energy to grow. Both arctic and antarctic pelagic food webs have characteristic energy flows controlled largely by a few key species. But there is no single generic web for either.

In norwegian the word krill means whale food. These krill are near the bottom of the antarctic food web. Reported in the journal biology letters it s the first time researchers have found field based evidence that plastics are entering food webs in antarctica. Although there are no trees in and around antarctica more than 100 million birds nest and breed there.

The 10 most central itus in the before and after food webs included 21 and 9 animal taxa respectively having in common as primary consumers the demosponge haliclona dancoi and the bivalve. An antarctic food web. Discover who eats who is eating in the antarctic food web. Even though the water around antarctica is very cold and often covered with ice the sea supports a large number of different species from algae to invertebrates to larger vertebrates such as fish penguins and seals.

Food web structure may be similar in different regions but the individual species that dominate mid trophic levels vary across polar regions. Antarctica food chains and food webs a simple antarctic food chain is the secret to the success of the baleen whales keep the chain short and transfer as much energy as possible as efficiently as possible. All animals depend on krill for their survival. Krill eat phytoplankton tiny ocean plants and zooplankton tiny ocean creatures squid eat krill penguins eat krill and squid fish eat krill and other fish seals eat krill fish and squid leopard seals eat krill squid fish and penguins.

From krill to killer whales penguins to phytoplankton this continents waters are teeming with life. However these more complicated alternatives provide less energy flow to upper trophic level species. There would be no life in the southern ocean around antarctica without energy from the sun. The plankton algae and mosses are eaten by small animals called krill.

Alternative pathways are important for resilience and maintaining energy flows.