Tropic ecology and marine food webs

prepared by: Muhammad Arif Asadi

 Tropic level and food web
• The term food web is used to refer to the complex interactions
between the plants and animals found in nature. At the simplest
level it is a food chain which is a pathway of the transfer of energy
and matter between feeding levels. For example, large fish may
feed on smaller fish which feed on microscopic animals which in
turn feed on microscopic plants known as phytoplankton
• Trophic levels indicate the position of an organism in a food chain
or food web, hence primary producers make up the lowest trophic
level, with the largest predators at the top.
Definitions
Ocean Ecosystem Structure

Trophic levels
and dynamics
Ocean Ecosystem Structure

Trophic levels
and dynamics
Ocean Ecosystem Structure

Trophic levels
and dynamics
Ocean Ecosystem Structure

Trophic levels
and dynamics
Ocean Ecosystem Structure

Example of a more complex Food Web

 Ocean Ecosystem Structure

Energy Transfer between Trophic Levels is not

efficient
Trophic levels
and dynamics

Food Web

Energy
ENERGY
How about Mass Transfer?
 The concept and consequence of growth
yield
• An organism cannot grow (convert food into
body tissue) with 100 % efficiency. The laws of
thermodynamics show that works must be
done to create new tissue and this requires
energy. This introduces the notion of the
efficiency of growth, usually expressed as
growth yield.
The concept and consequence of growth
yield

Schematic of the apportionment of overall

metabolism of a heterotroph into metabolism (M) and
growth
 Trophic yield and food chain efficiencY

• One organism’s growth is another organism’s

meal. If we consider a simple linear food
chain, comprised of physioliogically similar
organisms within each trophic grouping, we
can extend the growth yield concept to a
trophic yield. In this case the production
(growth) at one level is taken as the food
intake for the subsequent one
Microbial loops
Microbial loops
Use of Epifluorescent Microscopy and Fluorescent DNA
Stains Became Widespread Between 1975 and 1985
Bacterial Concentrations Before (Red Fill) and After (Blue Fill) the Introduction of Epifluorescent
Microscopy
 OCEAN FOOD CHAINS

OCEAN PRODUCTIVITY

• High oceanic productivity occurs in areas of upwelling

in the ocean, particularly along continental shelves
.The coastal upwelling in these regions is the result of
deep oceanic currents colliding with sharp coastal
shelves, forcing nutrient-rich cool water to the surface.
• Over 90% of the world's living biomass is contained in
the oceans, yet only about 0.2% of marine production
is harvested.
sources