All articles tagged with #food web
Invasive flathead catfish have become top predators in the Susquehanna River, disrupting the local food web by outcompeting native species and altering their diets, which may destabilize the ecosystem over time.
A recent study reveals that in the Arctic, sea stars, particularly from the Pterasteridae family, are top predators in the benthic (seafloor) ecosystem, challenging the traditional view that polar bears are the ultimate predators in the region. These sea stars play a crucial role in maintaining ecosystem balance by hunting and scavenging, highlighting the complexity of Arctic food webs and the importance of benthic predators for overall ecosystem health.
Kelp forests along the Gulf of Maine have declined significantly, leading to a shift in the local food web where fish now rely more on phytoplankton instead of kelp for energy, fundamentally altering ecosystem dynamics and highlighting the importance of kelp as a foundational species.
The Arctic ice alga Melosira arctica contains ten times as many microplastic particles as the surrounding seawater, posing a threat to creatures that feed on the algae at the sea surface. Clumps of dead algae also transport the plastic with its pollutants particularly quickly into the deep sea, explaining the high microplastic concentrations in the sediment there. The microplastic could enter the food web of deep-sea dwellers and also at the sea surface, potentially affecting human health. The Arctic ecosystem is already threatened by the climate crisis, and reducing the production of new plastic is the most effective way to reduce plastic pollution.