The Kelp Forest Food Web. Kelp forests are dense areas of kelp growth that occur near coastal waters. They are the producers of the ecosystem providing energy for primary consumers, like sea urchins, sea stars, jellyfish, crabs and snails. Sea urchin populations are kept in check by secondary consumers, like sea otters

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Moreover, what is a kelp forest ecosystem?

Kelp Forests are underwater ecosystems formed in shallow water by the dense growth of several different species known as kelps. As a result of this incredible growth, kelp forests can develop very quickly in areas that they did not previously exist. Kelp thrives in cold, nutrient-rich waters.

Additionally, how do humans impact kelp forests? Human activities also impact the health of kelp forests through coastal development, sedimentation, pollution, and fishing. Removing predators while fishing can alter the food chain.

Besides, what organisms are both predators and prey in the kelp forest ecosystem?

A loss of organisms on higher trophic levels, such as carnivores, can also disrupt a food chain. In kelp forests, sea urchins are the primary consumer of kelp. Sea otters prey on urchins. If the sea otter population shrinks due to disease or hunting, urchins devastate the kelp forest.

What trophic level are kelp?

Sea urchins are powerful primary consumers in kelp forests. These small herbivores eat dozens of kilograms (pounds) of giant kelp every day. Secondary consumers eat herbivores. They are at the third trophic level.

Related Question Answers

What is the importance of kelp forests?

Kelp forests provide food and shelter for large numbers of fish and shellfish. Kelp also protect coastlines from damaging wave action. One of the sea otter's favorite delicacies is the sea urchin who in turn loves kelp. When present in healthy numbers, sea otters keep sea urchin populations in check.

How many types of kelp are there?

30 different species

What is the purpose of seaweed?

Seaweeds play a major role in marine ecosystems. As the first organism in marine food chains, they provide nutrients and energy for animals – either directly when fronds are eaten, or indirectly when decomposing parts break down into fine particles and are taken up by filter-feeding animals.

What's the difference between kelp and seaweed?

Seaweed is a term which can be used to describe many different marine-based species of plants and algae. But sea kelp is more specific. Seaweed ranges dramatically in size, whilst sea kelp is always quite large. You can break seaweed down into three groups — red, brown and green.

Why is seagrass important?

The vast biodiversity and sensitivity to changes in water quality inherent in seagrass communities makes seagrasses an important species to help determine the overall health of coastal ecosystems. Seagrasses perform numerous functions: Stabilizing the sea bottom. Providing food and habitat for other marine organisms.

What is Kelping?

Scientific definitions for kelping Kelps are varieties of brown algae of the order Laminariales, with some species growing over 61 m (200 ft) long. Kelps are harvested as food (primarily in eastern Asia), as fertilizer, and for their sodium and potassium salts, used in industrial processes.

What is kelp in biology?

Kelps are large brown algae seaweeds that make up the order Laminariales. There are about 30 different genera. Kelp grows in "underwater forests" (kelp forests) in shallow oceans, and is thought to have appeared in the Miocene, 5 to 23 million years ago.

What is the basic structure of giant kelp communities?

Under ideal conditions, giant kelp can grow an astonishing two feet each day. Held upright by gas-filled bladders at the base of leaflike blades, kelp fronds grow straight up to the surface, where they spread across the top of the water to form a dense canopy.

Is a sea urchin an Autotroph?

Trophic level Sea urchins feed mainly on algae, so they are primarily herbivores, but can feed on sea cucumbers and a wide range of invertebrates, such as mussels, polychaetes, sponges, brittle stars, and crinoids, making them omnivores, consumers at a range of trophic levels.

What plants are in a kelp forest?

These animals feed on the holdfasts that keep kelp anchored to the bottom of the ocean and algae that are abundant in kelp forests. Sea urchins will often completely remove kelp plants by eating through their holdfasts. Other invertebrates found in kelp forests are sea stars, anemones, crabs, and jellyfish.

Is a sea otters a secondary consumers?

The sea otter is a secondary consumer, an omnivore, and eats kelp (kelp is a kind of seaweed) and sea urchins. Small fish eat algae and zooplankton, are omnivores ,and primary consumers.

What eats seagrass in the ocean?

Expand/Collapse What animals eat seagrasses? Sea turtles, manatees, parrotfish, surgeonfish, sea urchins and pinfish feed on Florida seagrasses. Many other smaller animals feed on the epiphytes and invertebrates that live on and among seagrass blades.

What eats a sea otter?

In the Arctic, killer whales often dine on sea otters, while in the Californian coast, great white sharks consume many otters each year. Other predators include sea lions in certain areas, as well as eagles, which eat otter pups. On land, coyotes and bobcats also predate on otters.

What animals eat plankton?

Phytoplankton is eaten by small zooplankton, which are in turn eaten by other zooplankton. Those plankton are eaten by small fish and crustaceans, which in turn are eaten by larger predators, and so on.

What organisms live in kelp forests?

Kelp forests are home to many different species, including fish, sea urchins and other marine animals, invertebrates, such as snails, and sea otters. For part of their lifetime, kelp forests in Alaska are home to 20 or more species of fish, who are attracted to the kelp by the food supply.

How many sea otters are left?

There are only about 3,000 southern sea otters left in the wild today.

What kind of animals live in the kelp forest?

Kelp bass, giant kelpfish, garibaldi, norris' top snail, and kelp crabs are all common inhabitants of the kelp forest. Kelp anchors to the rocky bottom with a structure called the holdfast. The holdfast has many crevices and is home to many other animals such as spiny brittlestars and amphipods.

What affects the kelp forest?

Impacts on Kelp Forests. Numerous natural impacts as well as human activities, affect kelp forest environments. The factors influencing kelp forest stability are diverse: kelp harvesting; grazing by fishes, sea urchins, and crustaceans; plant competition; storms; El Niño events; sedimentation; and pollution.

How does pollution affect kelp forests?

The researchers have found a combined effect on kelp forests from nutrient pollution and higher CO₂, which could have a devastating impact on Australia's marine ecosystems. They measured the growth of turf algae which is a precursor to kelp forest loss. As the turf algae grows it displaces the kelp.