Food Web Diagram, Term Paper Example

The ecosystem in the Everglades is referred to specifically as the Greater Everglades Ecosystem, and is unique because some plant and animal species can be found only in this location. Within the general ecosystem, there are sub-ecosystems that include the Hardwood Hammock, Pineland, Mangrove, Costal Lowlands, Freshwater Slough, Freshwater Marl Prairie, Cypress, and Marine and Estuarine. The Marine and Estuarine ecosystem will be focused on and it describes the ecological interactions that occur between the animals and plants living in the Florida Bay, which is the largest body of water in the Everglades.

Florida Bay is home to many diverse plants and animals, and the bottom of the bay is covered in a large amount of vegetation that serve as producers that feed the animals. The bottom of the bay also contains corals and sponges, and various parts of the bay contain recreationally important fish, crustaceans, and mollusks. It is important to keep these marine environments healthy because they contribute to the sustainment of fisheries outside of the park. Immediately outside the bay, many plants, mammals, birds, and reptiles thrive. This creates a complex food web due to the interdependency that these organisms have on one another.

The sun provides energy to the producers, which include zooxanthellae, seagrass beds, and algae. Zooxanthellae is a type of photosynthetic plankton that helps form the niche on the bottom of the bay. Interestingly, two of these producers, seagrass beds and algae, serve as protection for their primary consumers in addition to acting as a food source. Therefore, they provide the energy that perpetuates this food web in addition to hindering secondary consumers from being able to immediately detect their prey. Oysters and coral are somewhat immobile and rely on the mobile plankton to enter into their domain for consumption. Many species of fish thrive due to the wide availability of seagrass and algae on the bottom of the bay, and although some act as primary consumers that feed on these food sources, other act as secondary consumers that feed on other fish. The major decomposer in this food web is crustaceans, like crabs. Many species of crabs feed on many different things and are willing to consume plants and decaying animals to survive.

Even though the Everglades is home to significant plant and animal diversity, it has been slowly disappearing due to human interference. Land has been developed in Florida primarily to provide homes for people and to serve as site of businesses. This has depleted the Everglades significantly and much effort is being taken to reduce this damage. It is important to consider that factors outside of the Florida Bay are responsible for ensuring that its populations remain constant. Many alligators and birds live in the immediate area and are consumers that primarily eat fish. Humans interfere both indirectly and directly with life in the Florida Bay. They do so indirectly by interfering with its native birds and alligators. Many alligators have been forced to leave the Everglades due to a depletion of their food source, which have caused them to wander to various parts of Florida that humans inhabit. Rather than returning them to the Everglades, many humans deem them as a threat and make arguments to the state to have them killed. When this happens, the fish supply Florida Bay will increase and these populations will eventually die out due to a lack of available food.

Humans are directly interfering with life in the Florida Bay because currently, state law allows people to go fishing in these areas. Since this is a popular spot, much of the fish population is depleted, which contributes to the displacement of alligators and birds, which was mentioned above. Furthermore, because this directly impacts the Florida bay, producers, consumers, and decomposers in the system are impacted as well. If a large quantity of fish are removed from the system, algae and seagrass will dominate because they have less competition for growth. Although crustaceans can still consume this vegetation, those that act primarily as decomposers will die. Furthermore, the density of vegetation will result in a blockage of light that will reduce the amount of plankton available in the system. Since oysters and coral rely on this plankton to survive, this ecosystem will have reduced amounts of these two animals. Ultimately, this growth may promote bacterial growth, which could possibly contribute to the water being completely unlivable for any organism and certainly undrinkable by humans. Thus, it is better to avoid any interaction with the Florida Bay that could alter its environment.

It is also important to consider that humans can interfere with the Florida Bay ecosystem by polluting it. Even if humans do not overfish the area, it is possible that dumping garbage nearby will result in it being deposited in this water. This dumping could either be intentional, by someone dropping garbage directly into the bay, or unintentional by dropping it nearby the bay and having water runoff carry it there. It is difficult to predict the precise animals that will be impacted by this, but crustaceans will likely suffer as a consequence because they are scavengers that consume almost everything they encounter. Furthermore, research has shown that birds that eat these crustaceans will end up eating the garbage indirectly. Therefore, we could expect a reduction of crustaceans which would result in an increase of decaying fish. This toxicity may inhibit the growth of oysters and coral, which would result in a predominantly vegetation environment, like the scenario above.

The abiotic factors that characterize the Florida Bay are the sand at its depths, boats at its surface, currents, sunlight, and extreme weather like hurricanes and winds. Although hurricanes aren’t typically responsible for direct damage of the plants and animals living in the bay, they are responsible for stirring up sediment, which can make the water cloudy for a period of time. This inhibits the ability of sunlight to reach the producers, which may slow down their growth and therefore impact the growth of the consumers and decomposers. Furthermore, currents are important to the Florida Bay, and the Florida Current is of particular note. The Florida Current is what is responsible from bringing warm water from South America and the Caribbean to the Florida Bay and the Florida Keys. This allows the coral in this region to thrive because it depends upon warmth.

As shown in the food map above, there are several food chains within this ecosystem. Zooxanthellae is a producer that is consumed by oysters and coral. When oysters die, they are consumed by crustaceans, which are eaten by birds that live outside of this immediate ecosystem. Coral is not consumed by decomposers and can continued to grow provided that an adequate amount of zooxanthellae is available in addition to heat. This is why many coral reefs are extensive; their hard shell protects them from consumption and they can live many years. A second and third food chain is that crustaceans, typically a decomposer, can act as a consumer and eat seagrass and algae directly. In a fourth food chain, fish act as consumers that eat seagrass, a producer, and when they die are consumed by crustaceans, which act as decomposers. In a fifth food chain, fish act as consumers that eat algae, a producer, and when they die are consumed by crustaceans, which act as decomposers.

In conclusion, it is essential to be aware of the food chains and webs that occur in a variety of ecosystems because interfering with one organism could lead to observed detrimental effects in others. The Everglades is a particularly sensitive ecosystem due to the large variety and uniqueness of the animals living there. Since humans have done much damage to this community already, it is important to take action to prevent this from occurring. Many birds are losing their homes due to human interference, and this issue becomes even more striking when observing the many homeless alligators. The presence of these animals in parts of the ecosystem they do not belong in is even more damaging because our interference is impacting distinct food webs outside of the Everglades as a consequence.

This study has demonstrated the importance of the Florida Bay to the Everglades because this body of water is what essentially makes this entire ecosystem livable. As long as the plants and animals in the bay continue to thrive, there will continue to be food available for the organisms living near it. However, it has been shown that it is easy to through off the balance of this ecosystem by overfishing and polluting it, so this should be avoided. In addition, this ecosystem is heavily reliant on the presence of secondary consumers, such as alligators, and their removal can result in an excess that has detrimental effects on the environment. Therefore, it is essential for Florida to implement a policy that will allow the return of alligators to the Everglades that have wandered away. Furthermore, it is necessary to enact further legislation that will protect the Everglades and effort should be taken to expand this area to what it was before mass land development.

References

Douglas MS. (1947). The Everglades: River of Grass. R. Bemis Publishing.

Hodding CW. (2004). Stolen Water: Saving the Everglades from its Friends, Foes, and Florida.            Atria Books.