Living Organisms Final Essay

FOOD WEBS FOR MARINE LIVING ORGANISMS                                                                                                           

Feeding relationships are often shown as simple food chains – in reality, these relationships are much more complex, and the term food web more accurately shows the links between producers, consumers and decomposers.

Trophic Levels:

Organisms in most food webs are commonly divided into trophic levels. These levels can be shown through a pyramid or web where organisms are grouped by the role they play in the food web. The first level forms the base of the pyramid and is made up of producers. The second level is made up of herbivores and consumers. On average, only 10% of the energy of an organism is transferred to its consumer. The rest is lost as waste, heat energy and movement energy. As a result each trophic level supports a smaller number of organisms. It has less biomass which means a top-level consumer, such as a shark is supported by millions of primary producers from the base of the food web or trophic pyramid. 

Producers:

Producers are described as autotrophic, which means they are able to make their own food. Producers in the marine environment convert energy from the sun into food energy through photosynthesis. Phytoplankton are the most abundant and widespread producers in the marine environment. Other producers include seaweeds and sea grasses.

Consumers:

Consumers are described as heterotrophic, which means they are unable to make their own food and rely on consuming other organisms or absorbing dissolved organic material in the water column.

Decomposers:

Decomposers exist on every trophic level. They are mainly bacteria that break down dead organisms. This process releases nutrients to support the producers as well as the consumers that feed through absorbing organic material in the water column. This process is very important and means that even top-level consumers are contributing to the food web as the decomposers break down their waste or dead tissue.

    

 

 

   

 

Protecting Marine Resources

Protecting Marine Resources:

     We are disturbing marine wildlife and nature, when we don't recycle and continue to pollute the oceans. Marine mammals can mistake our trash as food, in which they consume and end up dying. This can result in extinction in the mammals.  

     On a personal level, I believe that we should put a stop to using anything non-biodegradable. A great number of marine mammals are dying each year due to the amount of pollution and carelessness. Using paper bags instead of plastic bags will tremendously help our environment and help the animals live longer.

      I think marine resources are over used and carelessly abused. Huge ships are polluting the oceans with gas and oil everyday. Grocery stores have become more aware of the pollution problem and started to use paper bags and recyclable bags. Although, in many stores plastic is still continued to be used on a daily basis. Over a significant time period when the pollution affect becomes worse I think people will then begin to realize how bad pollution is when the marine species starts dying off. Recycling and being responsible for trash is so important because little by little you are saving and helping the marine mammals, oceans and environment. 

     In order to protect marine resources both now and in the future, I will be more aware of where my trash ends up and I will continue using paper bags when I shop and bio-degradable plastic water bottles. I will also continue to recycle and be more cautious about the pollution around us. I will do anything to help the environment and prevent it from turning to trash.  

Project Reflection

Conservation of Organisms-

Throughout this project I learned a lot about how plastics in the ocean can harm the marine organisms and pollute the oceans. One of the most serious threats to our oceans is plastic pollution. Approximately 90% of all trash floating on the oceans surface is plastic, with 46,000 pieces of plastic per square mile. Plastic is not biodegradable, instead it is eaten by marine life, mistaken for food. It is washed up on beaches and breaks down into microscopic plastic dust, which attracts more debris. This has become a global problem occurring everyday. There is no part of the world left untouched by debris and its impacts. Marine debris is a threat to our environment, navigation safety, the economy and human health. Learning about this information made me become more careful and made me want to go to the beaches and help clean up the polluted trash and plastic, to help the marine life.  I really enjoyed this project and the topic I chose. I thought it was creative to make a pamphlet to express our information that we gathered. During this whole year I truly enjoyed every project we did. I felt as though they were all hands on and helped me learn and remember all the information that we had to learn!