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Ecosystems & Food Webs:
Comparing land and ocean
Land and ocean ecosystems obey the
same basic rules
However, there are some key
differences between the two
Understanding these differences
helps us to understand how
ecosystems work
Comparing land and ocean ecosystems

Examining an ocean ecosystem

Summary
Comparing land and ocean ecosystems

Examining an ocean ecosystem

Summary
 Plants are the ‘producers’ in ecosystems

The amount of food for plant-eating consumers -

‘herbivores’ - is determined by ...

The amount of plants growing in a habitat -

the ‘biomass’
The addition of new plant growth - the
‘production’
 On land, large
plants are the
dominant part of
most ecosystems
 Much of this
biomass consists
of woody tissue

Wood is more or
less indigestible,
and persists for a
long time
Because so much land plant material is difficult
to digest, herbivores need to eat very large
amounts

A four-tonne elephant will eat plants equivalent

to nearly 10% of its body weight per day

This means that you need a lot of plants to feed

one elephant
 Land covers about 30% of the planet’s surface
Image from the SeaWiFS sensor, courtesy ORBIMAGE

There are also plants in

Colours show the amount of biomass:
the oceans, as this
Blue and purple = low
satellite image shows
Yellow and orange = high
 This is a chain-forming diatom - a
common type of plankton alga

Most vegetation in the ocean

is microscopic plankton

Each cell is about 0.05 mm long

 The average depth of the oceans is more
than 3.5 kilometres, and 84% of the oceans
are at least 2 kilometres deep

Enough light for plant growth only

reaches to about 100 metres depth

This means that rooted plants can only

grow in shallow seas - less than 5% of total
ocean area
 surface
Enough light here for growth
100 m

In the open ocean, algal 500 m

plankton grow only in the top

100 metre-thick layer 1000 m

Too dark for growth

3500 m
 Plankton algae can grow
rapidly

Unlike trees, they are almost

completely edible
There is a small mass of algae
per unit area

but this is relatively

productive
Comparing land and ocean ecosystems

Examining an ocean ecosystem

Summary
 The Southern Ocean provides an
example of a simple oceanic ecosystem

Food chains tend to consist of only a

few levels
Plankton algae:
Baleen whale:
Producers
Consumer - predator

Krill (crustacea):
Consumers - herbivores
 This simple food chain is an extreme
example of an oceanic ecosystem

It has only two links from producer to

the ‘top-level’ consumer

There are huge differences in size

between the different components
We can visualise the size differences more easily if we equate each
living thing to familiar objects
Making each phytoplankton cell 1000 times bigger means that it is
about the size of a squash ball
 Making the krill 1000
times bigger means that
it becomes as long as a
small bus
Making the whale 1000
times bigger means that
it is still huge - it would
stretch across the Isle
of Wight
 In a simple ecosystem such as this, plant growth is
transferred efficiently from producer to top-level
consumer because ….

Primary consumers (herbivores) can convert most of

their plant food to tissue growth and reproduction

There are few steps in the food chain, so most plant

biomass can be transferred to the top-level consumer
Comparing land and ocean ecosystems

Examining an ocean ecosystem

Summary
Land and ocean ecosystems have very
different plants at the base of the food
web

We can summarise the main

differences ….
 LAND OCEAN
Very big plants Very small plants

30% of the planet’s 70% of the planet’s

surface surface

99% of all living Less than 1% of all

material living material

54% of the annual 46% of the annual

growth of new living growth of new living
material material
 LAND OCEAN
Very big plants Very small plants

30% of the planet’s 70% of the planet’s

surface surface

99% of all living Less than 1% of all

material living material

54% of the annual 46% of the annual

growth of new living growth of new living
material material
You have seen that -

Land ecosystems have large, slow-

growing plants

It takes a large biomass of

plants to support herbivores
You have seen that -

Ocean ecosystems have small,

fast-growing plants

In the oceans, a small biomass of

plants supports high herbivore
production
www.justaddh2o.tv
www.national-aquarium.co.uk

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