Antarctic Ocean Food Web
The southern ocean circling antarctica is one of earth s richest marine ecosystems.
Antarctic ocean food web. The impact of climate change on a particular species can ripple through a food web and affect a wide range of other organisms. Players must position the names of producers and consumers in the correct places in a diagram. Vertebrate ecologist and postdoctoral researcher with the institute of marine and antarctic studies imas dr julie mcinnes is the first. The second most numerous large mammal in the world after man is the crab eater seal an archetypal antarctic animal.
Declines in the duration and extent of sea ice in. Home news and media 2004 southern ocean food web key for future fisheries 17 february 2004 macaroni penguin colony photo. Home news and media 2020 dna unravels tangled food web of southern ocean predators. Its food webs support an abundance of life from tiny micro organisms to seals penguins and several species of.
Published on apr 23 2012 niwa biological oceanographer dr matt pinkerton discusses the complexities of antarctic marine food webs the uniqueness of many of antarctica s marine animals and the. An antarctic food web. Even though the water around antarctica is very cold and often covered with ice the sea supports a large number of different species from algae to invertebrates to larger vertebrates such as fish penguins and seals. Clarke a 1985 energy flow in the southern ocean food web.
All these plants and animals rely on each other to survive and together make up a food web. Even though the coastal waters of antarctica are cold and often covered with ice the sea supports a large number of different species from algae 3 to. Eric woehler a landmark achievement in antarctic marine research has provided a major step forward in understanding the food web of heard island and will provide key information to help ensure that fishing in the southern ocean region will not affect its ecology. Antarctic food web game pbs learningmedia build a food web a complex model that shows how various food chains in an ecosystem are connected using this interactive game adapted from the bigelow laboratory for ocean sciences.
The arctic food web is complex. There are fewer different species but greater numbers of individuals of each. The loss of sea ice can ultimately affect the entire food web from algae and plankton to fish to mammals. Croxall jp prince pa ricketts c 1985 relationships between prey life cycles and the extent nature and timing of seal and seabird.
Springer berlin heidelberg new york google scholar. Siegfried wr condy pr laws rm eds antarctic nutrient cycles and food webs proceedings of the 4th scar symposium of antarctic biology. These organisms are interconnected within a food web and rely on each other for survival. Not only is the decline of sea ice impairing polar bear populations by reducing the extent of their primary habitat it is also negatively impacting them via food web effects.