The Everglades Food Web

Sunlight

A food web is most often based on one source of energy...

I then calculated the biomass of my biome...

After that, each trophic level has 10% of the previous

(Energy available for apex predators)

With many different species, such as...

Tirtiary consumers

Florida panthers

Alligators

Herons

In addition to keystone species which provide food and shelter, there are those which control populations of consumers. Alligators do this, and they are apex predators. But their other role in the Everglades is much more important.

Alligators in the Everglades provide shelter to other organisms during the dry season, when the rest of the swamp drains. They dig gator holes which fill with water and become an oasis for many different species.

There are many Everglades species who rely on gator holes to survive the dry season. Some species of turtles can only incubate their eggs in alligator nests.

This is an example of symbiosis.

This makes the alligator a very significant keystone species in the Everglades

Bobcats

Ibises

The Food Web of the Everglades

Secondary consumers

Turtles

Small birds

River otters

Large fish

Snakes

Snail kites

Raccoons

Primary

consumers

White-tailed deer

Apple snails

Small fish

Manatees

Crustaceans

Small mammals

Amphibians

Invertabrates

As entertaining as the savannah is, my environment is the Everglades...

The Everglades is an ecosystem of

...think of "The Circle Of Life"

...Except the animals aren't all friends...

land

The Sun's energy

Fortunately, the food web can be divided into four basic categories

and

water

14,301,726

1,430,172

143,017

14,301

Food web, n: A complex of interrelated food chains in an ecological community.

Producers

And even more important, there is poetry about it!

Mangroves

Periphyton, noun: freshwater organisms attached to or clinging to plants and other objects projecting above the bottom sediments.

Which can be just as fun.

Sawgrass

But much, much more complicated than this.

Because it supports so much of Everglades life, it is a keystone species

All commercial fish and shellfish have spent some point of their life cycle in a mangrove habitat

Because they ground the soil of the wetlands and provide shelter for many different forms of life, mangroves are also a keystone species

Mangroves provide shelter and stability to the ecosystem

It feeds small fish, invertabrates, and amphibians

Periphyton is the primary producer in the Everglades. It's actually a mixture of detritus, organic matter, micoorganisms

Mangroves are trees with special roots that allow them to grow in and near water. They can survive waves, tides, and temporary salt water.

Since it is comprised of many different materials, parts of it are not producers. Still, periphyton accounts for half of the production in the Everglades

Periphyton

Seagrass

There are several keystone species

Efforts are under way to help save the Everglades. Hopefully, some day the Everglades will be as beautiful and clean as it was meant to be.

(From Wikipedia) "A keystone is the wedge-shaped stone piece at the apex of a masonry vault or arch, which is the final piece placed during construction and locks all the stones into position, allowing the arch to bear weight. This makes a keystone very important structurally."

There are many threats to the delicate Everglades food web. Polution and deforestation destroy wildlife, while invasive species compete with native animals for food.

...think of "The Circle Of Life"

...Except the animals aren't all friends...

Keystone species work in the same way. They support their environments in many different ways, and so their ecosystems could not exist without them.

...think of "The Circle Of Life"

...Except the animals aren't all friends...

It's easier to understand an environment through the concept of a "keystone species"

within

the Everglades

Decomposers

Cattails, fed by chemicals, choke out native plants

Invasive pythons kill endanered animals and even humans