Sci_230_Final

Temperate Forest Ecosystem Tertiary Consumers Lynx Wolf Bear Cougar Secondary Consumers Shrew Amphibians Weasel Raccoon Insects Birds – Owls, hawks Primary Consumers Small mammals Salmon Insects Deer Elk Birds – Sparrows, Cardinals, Blue-Jays Primary Producers Ferns Mosses Shrubs Shrubs Flowers Canopy Layer Trees Hemlock Cedar Spruce Understory Layer Trees Vine Maple Dogwood Ground Layer – Decomposer’s Ferns Grasses Moss Small Flowering Plants Fungi Small Leafy Plants Bacteria Protozoans Detritivores digest dead matter I chose the Temperate Forest ecosystem. This system has a good range of species that keep it moving and stable. In this diagram we have quite a variety that all rely on each other to maintain this food chain. At the bottom of this food chain we have the decomposers. These plants are responsible for digesting and breaking down the dead bodies of the plants and animals in this ecosystem. This is the ground layer. This helps recycle all the nutrients in the body to begin the food chain. These would be the bacteria, fungi, and small plants that will pull the nutrients from the dead bodies. We then have the understory and canopy levels of plants that give homes and food to the variety of life in this ecosystem. We will then find the producers. These plants are responsible for providing food such as nuts or flowers to the primary consumers. Here we will find small shrubs, moss, and flowers for the primary consumers to eat. The next layer in the order is the primary consumers. This layer will fall right in the middle of this food chain. These species eat the plants below it, but will also serve as food sources to some of the species in the upper level of this ecosystem. Here we will find animals like deer, elk, salmon, birds, insects, and small mammals like squirrels and mice. These animals are the primary consumers of the plants. Next we will have the secondary consumers. Now we will be finding the species that are beginning to feed on the primary consumers. Here we will find shrews, amphibians, and birds that eat the insects in the primary consumers section. Then we also have the salmon, squirrels, and mice that will end up being eaten by the weasels, raccoons, and birds. The birds in the secondary consumers section will also feed on the birds in the primary consumers section. Also in this section you will find the insects that will feed on the insects from primary consumers section. Next we have the top of the food chain. These guys will generally stick to their specific diets, but between them they will feed on most of the primary and secondary consumers. Here we find lynx, wolves, bears, and cougars. All of them will feed on the salmon, raccoons, and weasels. The cougar’s agility and power give it a little more freedom and they get to feed on the elk and deer as well. The Wolves will also feed on these because they hunt in packs and are able to bring the elk and deer down. Unfortunately the bear and lynx don’t have the assets to catch these quick animals. The lynx is quick enough to catch some of the birds and feed on them. Then again we start over. All of the left over nutrients from the animals killed for feeding, or the top of the food chain animals passing away, will be recycled back into the decomposer’s to start this chain all over again. Now we are back to the bottom and the nutrients will then pass through each level and back up to the top of the food chain again. Any form of human interaction into areas like this throws off a food chain. Humans’ building into it loses some of the decomposers, understory, and canopy level vegetation. This then takes away homes and food to the consumers. This affects every area of the food chain. With the building of one building can take away, food, shelter, hunting grounds, and just habitable land for the many species in this ecosystem. The sad thing is that as the human population continues to grow we continue to expand to develop onto ecosystems just like this one. Eventually we will no longer have wild animals. Every animals alive will have to live in captivity because humans have destroyed every bit of habitat available to animals.