The Biotic Factor In Central Grassland Of North America

Located in tropical ocean waters, coral reefs provide priceless resources to both human and marine life. The leading natural cause of destruction among the coral reefs is global warming. Other natural causes are earthquakes, hurricanes, cyclones, and typhoons. The destruction to the coral reefs from these natural disasters is minimal compared to the dangers caused by man. Man-made destruction has a much wider impact on the health of the coral reefs. This destruction includes over-fishing, damage from anchors, aquarium industry, overgrowth of seaweed, and being smothered by sediments.

Of the primary producers found in this environment, probably the one with the biggest impact on the ecosystem is grass because the blades feed the primary consumers who then feed the rest of the food chain. Although other plants also fulfill this function, grass is eaten in the most abundant quantities and also grows the most.

Next, producers are important in the tundra.Producers comprise all of those organisms that can produce their own food, typically via photosynthesis.

A main hazard to this ecosystem caused by humans would be pollution. The acid precipitation, toxic chemicals, and other contaminants are harming the aquatic environment, and it contributes to the dwindling population of species in this ecosystem. According to (Dickey, Reece & Simon, 2010), this human behavior has contributed to the decline in commercial fish species, dying coral reefs, and even the closing of some beaches due to pollution.

2. Kingdom Protists- these organisms solely do not depend on themselves to create food but on other living things.

Over the past year, 12 percent of the oceans reefs have become bleached due to ocean acidification. Ocean acidification and in turn coral bleaching, is due to carbon pollution causing global warming, this makes the oceans warmer, thus making them more acidic. Coral reefs and shellfish cannot survive these levels of acid in the water. In particular the Great Barrier Reef, one of the seven natural wonders of the world, is suffering from this bleaching. The Great Barrier Reef has been declining in recent years due to this acidification, however, as of recently it has come knocking on death 's door. Carbon levels started rising about 200 years ago during the industrial revolution, because the machines invented started pumping carbon dioxide

The key environmental points are that coral reefs provide important ecosystem goods and services for the maritime tropical and subtropical nations. Within the past two centuries, the main drivers of massive acceleration in the decrease of coral reef species that have caused widespread changes in reef ecosystems has been due to the direct and indirect effects of overfishing and pollution during agriculture and land development. Since markets for fish have gone global, along with other natural resources, reduced stocks of herbivorous fish and the nutrients from land-based activities have caused corals to be replaced with fleshy seaweed.

Which organisms (producers, herbivores, carnivores, or omnivore) would be the least numerous in this food web? Explain

Although it takes place on land, the fertilizers used in growing crops and killing pesky bugs, the chemicals are getting onto the ground where underground waterways take the chemicals into the Great Barrier Reef and other bodies of water. While tourism is great for local communities to help treat the Marine Park, it also has its negative effects. With more and more people in one area, the demand for natural resources increases. With the overuse of the natural resources, more waste products and pollution are created. There are many more ways that the Great Barrier Reef is being harmed by. Such as non-native species that are infected the waters of the Great Barrier Reef and killing species that naturally live in the Great Barrier Reef. Another way is global warming interfering with the temperature of the water which heats up and kills of species of coral and

Natural disasters can still catastrophic consequences on coral reefs, for example powerful storm strength waves, which can easily break apart the corals. Destructive storms are common in tropical areas, which is the environment that coral lives in, pose threats to the coral, although not enough to kill the coral, but can potentially do severe damage. Warming sea temperatures, which is indirectly caused by humans, is another factor that is harmful to the corals. As stated in the early paragraph the rising of sea temperature creates a breeding area for algae and bacteria to grow which in large amount can be dangerous to the corals. Once sick these coral turn chalk white through a process called coral bleaching. The El Niño Southern Oscillation event of 1997-1998 is an example because it caused about 70-80% to die in the Indo-Pacific due to a sudden rise in sea temperature. Lastly, another risk that coral reefs may face is the harsh sunlight, during low tides the reef is exposed to the harsh sunlight. This will lead to dried pores, if they stay out long enough, which will ultimately kill them. Although, there is not much humans can do to prevent these problems, but we can help protect the coral reef by not loitering and reduce

Many people have gone scuba diving at some point in their lifetime, even going out to some of the world's most famous and beautiful coral reefs such as the Great Barrier reef or the Belize Barrier reef. But doing so does more harm than good, adding on to reasons for their decline. When doing recreational activities like these many touch coral reefs which can devastate and eventually kill an entire colony. In addition, when any type of boat is above a coral reef the harm done can be monumental, as boat groundings and damage from anchors can cause the breaking of the coral reefs, scraping, and there is always the potential for a accidental oil spill which can permanently kill coral reefs. Furthermore, coral reefs are being over exploited for a number of reasons. Coral mining is used to obtain coral to sell as jewelry, medicine, and some construction materials. But the methods for removing coral are disastrous as they use mining blasts which could lead to a coral reefs death. In addition, our own fishing markets are over fishing and have used incredibly harmful ways to catch the most fish in one go possible. This has the same effects as coral mining because the coral reefs have the potential to deteriorate, taking an incredibly long time to regenerate, or even cause its death. Although, coral reefs have been most gravely impacted by pollution and the detrimental effects of global warming. Due to a rise in ocean pollution, coral reefs can be impacted in a number of ways. One being the fact that it can cause disease to appear on the coral, but also lengthen the reproduction of coral. Due to plastics large numbers with in the ocean it can also cause the death of numerous marine organisms and other reef species. Furthermore, coral reefs are greatly impacted by climate change, which is

Make sure you know what each of these trophic categories or food web terms are:

The food web can be divided roughly into five main sections. The first section is the nutrients found in the soil, such as, phosphorus, and dead oak tree leaves. The second section is fungal hyphae, tree roots, and bacteria. The third section is nematodes, and earthworms. The fourth section is insects, such as, mites, wolf spiders, beetle larvae, and entomobryomorphan collembolan. The top part of the food web is the bird, robin. Generally speaking, the first section is the food source for the second section. The section is the food source for the third section. The third section is the food

A trophic level is the feeding position in the food chain that each organism is at. The producers are the first trophic level in the food chain and the most important part, they are the plants (e.g. corn) that get eaten by the primary consumers (e.g. locust). Then the primary consumer gets eaten by the secondary consumer (e.g. lizard), finally from there the secondary consumer gets eaten by the tertiary consumer (e.g. snake). See figure 1 for visual). To have a sustainable ecosystem the food chain is an essential member of the system.

Food webs are a very important throughout our everyday lives. We may not notice it, but we are in a food web ourselves. A food web shows how an ecosystem transfers energy throughout the different plants and animals. This is important because it shows the transfer of carbon throughout the ecosystem as well. Knowing how energy and matter is transferred throughout the ecosystem is important because it helps us understand and study the world that we live in. In a food web you have three types of organisms’ producers, consumers, and decomposers, each of them have a specific job in the food web. Producers are at the start of the food web, they create food through photosynthesis. Consumers are at the middle of the web, they eat producers and use the producer as energy, and