Create a diagram in which you illustrate the energy flow among organisms of a food chain in a
particular ecosystem.
Select an ecosystem, such as a temperate forest, desert biome, or the Everglades
The Great Barrier Reef, Australia
Determine the interdependency of life in your ecosystem by examining its organisms.
Include the following:

List the organisms that can be found in your ecosystem.
1. Dolphin – Consumer/Predator
(Crown of thorns starfish)
2. Green Sea Turtle – Consumer/Prey
9. Crown of Thorns Starfish/Predator
(Tiger Shark)
(hard coral) Prey (Giant triton)
3. Tiger Shark – Consumer/Predator
10. Hard Coral – Consumer/ Prey
(Green Sea Turtle)
(Crown of thorns starfish)
4. Trevallies –Consumer/Predator
11. Zooxanthelleae – Producer
(Cardinal Fish)
12. Sea Slugs – Consumer/ Predator
5. Cardinal Fish – Consumer/Prey
(Sea Sponges)
(Trevallies & Dolphin)
13. Sea Sponges – Consumer/ Prey (sea
6. Manta Ray – Consumer
Slugs)
7. Remora – Consumer
14. Spanish Dancer – Consumer
8. Giant Triton – Consumer/ Predator
15. Sea Grasses – Producer
16. Barracuda – Consumer/ predator
(Parrot Fish)
17. Parrot Fish – Consumer/Prey
(Barracuda)
18. Algae – Producer
19. Scorpion Fish – Consumer/Predator
(goby)
20. Goby – Consumer/ prey (Scorpion
fish)
21. Saddled Butterflyfish – Consumer
22. Sea anemones – consumers
23. Clownfish – Consumers
24. Long nosed butterfly fish –
Consumers

25. Barred Rabbit Fish – Consumers
26. Branching Coral
27. Jellyfish – Consumers
28. Coneshell – predator (goby)
29. Bluestriped fangblenny –
consumer/predator
30. Lizzard fish – Consumer
31. Phytoplankton – producer
32. Coralline algae – producer
33. Filamentous turf algae – producer
34. Many species of seaweed –
producer
35. Bacteria – decomposers
36. – 1000.+++ (many more)
 (PBS evolution, 2003)
What is the benefit of this biodiversity?
The Great Barrier Reef is well recognized for its huge biodiversity. Biodiversity is the array of life
forms that can be discovered to fulfil and the important niches in an ecosystem. Every thousands
of life forms are in a subtle stability with one and other, in that population change of one could
tremendously affect the numbers of others. Assistance of this diversity can take into effect if, by
chance, a specific population bears many losses in number. If the ecosystem has various diversity
then circumstances are life forms could load the voided niche left by the deteriorating population.
(Bellwood, Hughes, Folke & Nyström, 2004)
 Label major organisms that live in your selected ecosystem: P for producers, C for consumers,
and D for decomposers. (Done on list above)
Write a summary of your food chain that:

Describes the major categories of organisms: producers, consumers, and decomposers.
A food chain is a chart that illustrates the energy source through an ecosystem. The sun is the
primary source of energy for the earth. Producers, like the phytoplankton, can obtain from
sunlight and produce energy-rich organic compounds. This is the first level of the food chain in any
ecosystem.
Consumers can be further narrowed into some subgroups. The primary consumers that pursue the
producers in the food chain are the basic consumers. These consumers are also called herbivores.
Instances of these would be trevallies eating on cardinal fish. Every consumer that feeds another
carnivore would then be called a tertiary consumer. (Alevizon, 2010)
Lastly decomposers are important to the decomposition of material and reusing of energies. When
life forms are extinguished, the matter that omprise their tissue must be narrowed down and
reused into the environment. Bacteria take on this task in majority of reef ecosystems.

Describes the interactions between organisms in your ecosystem.
There are number of distinct ways in which life forms communicate in an ecosystem. The most
ordinary is that of predator-prey relationships. Sharks are predators as well as green sea turtles. If
both population tremendously modify in number (raise or decline), the other population would be
affected entirely. (PBS evolution, 2003).
One of the reasons for Natural Selection is the relationship of competition. Competition is when
life forms must survive against each other for inadequate supplies. These supplies can be food,
shelter, or even reproductive partners (when contained by the same species). An instance of
competition would be the connection between Dolphins and Trevallies. Either of these species
eats cardinal fish as a primary source of their energy on the reef, and as a result fights for this food
source. (PBS Evolution, 2003)
There are also symbiotic connections between various life forms. Instances of such connections
are that of the Remora and the Manta Ray. Another instance of animals helping out others is the
function of Zooxanthelleae and how it benefits the hard coral to construct. Sturdy coral is a living
consumer and it requires complicated biomolecules to make energy. Zooxanthellae are tiny algae
that inhabits in the tissue of coral. These little algae produce carbohydrates by a procedure called
photosynthesis. The coral then absorbs those carbohydrates, makes them for energy and utilizes
that energy to produce more calcium carbon, thus formulating the coral.
 Evaluates potential hazards caused by humans that might affect your ecosystem’s stability,
such as environmental pollution. What effect does this hazard have on the biodiversity in your
ecosystem?
The Giant Triton has been awed for its wonderful shell. Regrettably, as an end, it has been destroyed
by humans and its population has now declined considerably. (Queensland Museum, n.d.). Due to this,
the population of its prey, the crown-of –thorns starfish has crucially raised. The crown-of-thorns
starfish have few predators, but it does prey on hard coral. The significant increase of these starfish
has effected in vital coral obliteration thus jeopardizing the ecosystem of the coral reef (PBS evolution,
2003).
 Lists the abiotic factors present in your ecosystem.
Based on Isabelle Bounkeua (n.d.), the abiotic factors in the coral reef ecosystem are the following:
1. Temperature
2. Nutrients
3. Light
4. Salinity
5. Depth
6. Wave Motions
The factors listed above are those of non-living events, categorizing them as abiotic. Even if
they are non living, they do affect the life in the ecosystem, and thus are vital component of the
purpose of the ecosystem.

Describes the food chains associated with your ecosystem. Address the following items:
Zooxanthelleae → Coral → Crown-of-thorns Starfish → Giant triton
o
Name of the plant or animal: Crown-of-thorns starfish (Ancanthaster planci)
o
What it eats: Living Coral
o
What eats it: Giant triton
o
How it has adapted to the ecosystem :able to feed living coral because it can digest
wax. It has spines and toxins that keep away most predators.
(PBS evolution, 2003)
References
Alevizon, W. (2010). Coral Reef Food Web. Retrieved from http://www.coral-reef-info.com/coral-reeffood-web.html
Bellwood, D. R., Hughes, T. P., Folke, C., & Nyström, M. (2004). Confronting the coral reef crisis. Nature,
(429), 827-833. doi: 10.1038/nature02691
Bounkeua, I (n.d.) Coral Reefs. Retrieved from http://spressivo.com/isa/coralreef/index.htm
PBS evolution (2003) Coral Reef Connections. Retrieved from
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/evolution/survival/coral/index.html
Queensland Museum (n.d.) Giant triton. Retrieved from
http://www.qm.qld.gov.au/Find+out+about/Animals+of+Queensland/Molluscs/Gastropods/Marine+s
nails/Giant+Triton