Algae in the Marsh Ecosystem Food Chain (Essay Example)

The most important animal in the marsh ecosystem food chain is algae. An ecosystem includes all the living and non-living biotic or non-biotic organisms of a particular area of the planet. Algae is a producer and they only need energy from the sun to work. They create their own food by harvesting energy from other sources. In a food chain, the producers are at the bottom where they get eaten by a consumer, in this case, a herbivore. The team had to pick between algae, freshwater clam, milkweed, sora, muskrat, marsh hawk, and cattails. Consumers are organisms that have to eat other things to survive. So consumers will eat only plants, some only animals and the others will eat both plants and animals. So the algae will affect the marsh ecosystem if removed.

The information the group found was that algae was a producer and it had the biggest food web so it probably had the biggest effect and this was useful information that was used. The most important thing to know about each organism is that they are connected to the producers and they have special effects that help out the ecosystem and if removed then the ecosystem is in trouble. The group looked at the 3 producers cattails, milkweed, and algae. Cattails can be found in different climates, they are always found in or near water, mostly freshwater but some brackish marshes as well. Milkweed is flowers that produce nectar that attracts insects that help spread pollen and they are found in wet areas like swamps and marshes. Algae can boom which means they can reproduce quickly and in large numbers, they can live in freshwater or saltwater. And there are many kinds of them. The information will be organized in a 3-way food t-chart of the marsh ecosystem and then set it up in a food web. A t-chart is a graphic organizer, but shaped like a T, and is used to separate information into 2 categories The t-chart was chosen because it was clear and easy to understand, and plus it was used to compare stuff. The group analyzed the information by making a food web and only focused on the producers that have the most consumers because they start the food chain/ web and they feed the animals above. The bigger the food web connections, the bigger the effect. The group noticed that algae had more consumers you could say. And a pattern that was noticed was that there were a lot of tertiary and secondary consumers. 

What is the most important animal in the marsh ecosystem and would have the biggest effect if removed? The most important animal in the marsh ecosystem food chain is algae which would have the biggest effect if removed from the marsh ecosystem. According to the food, web algae has the most consumers so it should have the biggest effect if removed. The group looked at T-chart and saw that Algae has more consumers than milkweed and cattails. Producers support the entire food web. If the Algae were removed the primary consumer population would decrease. The Secondary consumers and tertiary consumer population would greatly disappear and eventually disappear. It’s like a Jenga puzzle. If the top is removed, not a big effect happens but if a bottom block is removed then the tower is in jeopardy. Also, algae can affect aquatic animals. Algae can grow in fresh and saltwater. When algae gets removed it affects the aquatic animal's food. When Algae gets removed it gives the spotted turtle, freshwater clam, and the mosquito no food to eat because they can’t eat animals and they are herbivores which means they only eat plants.