Who eats whom?All organisms in an ecosystem, or a system of interactions between living and nonliving things, play a part in the food web. In this interconnected system in which organisms eat other organisms to obtain the energy they need to survive, the smaller creatures are generally food for larger animals. Study the diagram of the Antarctic food web (below). Each arrow points from food to its predator. Once you have studied the food web, use complete sentences to answer the questions that follow. 1. What do penguins eat? 2. Compare the diet of a toothed whale toothed whale Common term for members of the cetacean suborder Odontoceti. Toothed whales have slicing teeth and a throat large enough to swallow chunks of giant squid, cuttlefish, and fish of all kinds. with that of a baleen whale baleen whale Any of about 13 species of cetaceans in the suborder Mysticeti. They are distinguished by a specialized feeding structure, the baleen, which strains plankton and small crustaceans from the water. It consists of two horny plates attached to the roof of the mouth. . How are they different? 3. If small fish populations were to decline, which five types of organisms would be affected most immediately? 4. Explain why krill krill: see crustacean. krill Any member of the crustacean suborder Euphausiacea, comprising shrimplike animals that live in the open sea. The name also refers to the genus Euphausia within the suborder and sometimes to a single species, E. superba. is such an important part of the Antarctic food web. 5. How might a declining krill population affect seals? ANSWERS 1. Penguins eat krill, squid, and small fish. 2. Toothed whales eat animals such as penguins, seals, and large fish. Baleen whales eat krill, phytoplankton phytoplankton Flora of freely floating, often minute organisms that drift with water currents. Like land vegetation, phytoplankton uses carbon dioxide, releases oxygen, and converts minerals to a form animals can use. , and zooplankton zooplankton: see marine biology. zooplankton Small floating or weakly swimming animals that drift with water currents and, with phytoplankton, make up the planktonic food supply on which almost all oceanic organisms ultimately depend (see . 3. If small fish populations were to decline, seabirds, large fish, seals, penguins, and squid would be affected most immediately. 4. Krill is an important part of the Antarctic food web. It is a main food source for many species, including seabirds, baleen whales, small fish, squid, mad penguins. Without krill, many of these organisms would not be able to survive. 5. If krill populations decline, the organisms that depend on it for food--including seabirds, small fish, squid, and penguins--would most likely also decline in numbers in numbered parts; as, a book published in numbers. See also: Number . Fewer small fish, squid, and penguins would mean less food for the seals to eat. This would cause the seals to decline in numbers. |
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