My Food Web - Tropical Rainforest

Producers

Primary Consumers

Secondary Consumers

Tertiary Consumers

Decomposers

Find and write out 2 chains from your food web.

On your two selected food chains, identify the producer, primary consumer, secondary consumer and tertiary consumer.

Within the food web I created, I was able to identify the following two food chains:

Angraecum (comet orchid) --> Stag beetle --> White Lined Gecko --> Golaith tarantula

In the first food chain I identified, the Angraecum, otherwise known as the comet orchid, is the producer. This autotroph is then consumed by the Stag beetle, which can be identified as the primary consumer. The stag beetle is then eaten by the White Lined Gecko, which, in this food chain, can be recognized as the secondary consumer. The tertiary consumer, which in this case is the Goliath tarantula, then eats the White Lined Gecko.

Mango tree --> Hornbill --> Anaconda --> Jaguar

In the second food chain I identified, the mango tree is the producer. The producer is then consumed by the Hornbill, which can be identified as the primary consumer. The Hornbill is then eaten by the Anaconda, making it the secondary consumer. The tertiary consumer, the Jaguar, then eats the Anaconda.

The top two carnivores in my foodweb are:

• The Jaguar
• The Harpy Eagle (partially) - although the Harpy eagle is the Jaguar's prey, there are no other animals within the food chain that eat the Harpy Eagle. The Harpy Eagle consumes most of the other species within the food web.

Explain what would happen if all the primary consumers became extinct.

If there were to be no primary consumers within a food web, the following would occur:

• There would be an overpopulation of producers. This is because primary consumers are the species that live off of the producers. There would be no species feeding off of the producers, resulting in an increase in number of producers.
• The secondary consumers would have nothing to eat because they rely mostly on the consumption of primary consumers, and would eventually starve and die.
• Because there will be a decrease in the number of secondary consumers, the tertiary consumers will have less to eat (tertiary consumers rely on secondary consumers, which rely on primary consumers), leading to starvation, and possibly, death.

Describe what would happen if all the decomposers became extinct.

The job of the decomposers within an ecosystem is to break down organic material from dead species, and break down waste into usable nutrients. If decomposers became extinct, waste and material would accumulate within the social of rainforests. Because producers rely on the nutrients decomposers create within the soil, the growth of producers would slow down. Many producers would not be able to grow from the lack of nutrients in the soil. If less producers grow, then primary consumers will have less food to eat, considering that they rely solely on the comsumption of producers to survive.

Explain what would happen if a non-native species severely depleted the population of producers in your food web.

If a non-native species severly depleted the population of producers within the food web I created, many consumers would be severly affected. Because the primary consumers rely on the producers for survival, the lack of producers would lead to many of the primary consumers (Spider Monkey, Stag beetle, Hornbill, etc.) starving. There would not be enough producers to provide the primary consumers with the right nutrition. Many of the primary consumers would starve and possibly die. Because there would be less primary consumers within the food web, some of the secondary consumers would have less to feed off of. Some secondary consumers may starve, or suffer from lack of sufficient nutrients. If this leads to result of less secondary consumers, then the tertiary consumers will have less to feed off, because they rely on the consumption of secondary consumers.

Explain why food webs with many species are more resilient than those with few species.

Food webs with many species are more resilient than those with few species, because they provide species with alternative species to consume and live off of. For example, let's just say that there is a food web with a seven primary consumers and six secondary consumers. Let's say that the one of the secondary consumers is the Harpy Eagle, and it usually lives off of rats (one of the primary consumers). If something were to happen to the rat species, the Harpy eagle would still have six primary consumers left to eat from. Food webs with greater numbers of species provide species within the food webs with more alternatives to their original prey/food they regularly consume. These species recover quickly from difficult conditions because of the many options they have to rely on. Rather than relying on one species for the sufficient nutrients to survive, they have many species available to them.

My Food Web - Tropical Rainforest

Goliath Tarantula

Jaguar

White Lined Gecko

Harpy Eagle

Anaconda

Hornbill

Stag Beetle

Spider Monkey

Chesnut Mandibled Toucan

Fig Tree (Ficus)

Bromeliad

Banana Tree

Angraecum (Comet Orchid)

Mango Tree

Earthworm

List the top two carnivores in your food web.

Fungi