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A food web is the natural interconnection of food chains and a graphical representation of what-eats-what in an ecological community. Position in the food web, or trophic level, is used in ecology to broadly classify organisms as autotrophs or heterotrophs.
An example of a topological food web (image courtesy of USDA) [1]. The soil food web is the community of organisms living all or part of their lives in the soil. It describes a complex living system in the soil and how it interacts with the environment, plants, and animals.
The international disaster database EM-DAT defines a disaster as “a situation or event that overwhelms local capacity, necessitating a request for external assistance at the national or international level; it is an unforeseen and often sudden event that causes great damage, destruction and human suffering.” [12] The effects of a disaster ...
Diverse organisms make up the soil food web. They range in size from one-celled bacteria, algae, fungi, and protozoa, to more complex nematodes and micro-arthropods, to the visible earthworms, insects, small vertebrates, and plants. As these organisms eat, grow, and move through the soil, they make it possible to have clean water, clean air ...
For example, windstorms followed by fire can create fire temperatures and durations that are not expected in even severe wildfires, and may have surprising effects on post-fire succession. [18] Environmental stresses can be described as pressure on the environment, with compounding variables such as extreme temperature or precipitation changes ...
Cyanobacteria (blue-green algae) bloom on Lake Erie (United States) in 2009. These kinds of algae can cause harmful algal bloom. A harmful algal bloom (HAB), or excessive algae growth, is an algal bloom that causes negative impacts to other organisms by production of natural algae-produced toxins, water deoxygenation, mechanical damage to other organisms, or by other means.
Generalized food web of waterbirds from Chesapeake Bay. A food web is the archetypal ecological network. Plants capture solar energy and use it to synthesize simple sugars during photosynthesis. As plants grow, they accumulate nutrients and are eaten by grazing herbivores, and the energy is transferred through a chain of organisms by consumption.
After a natural disaster, common pioneer organisms include lichens and algae. Mosses usually follow lichens in colonization but cannot serve as pioneer organisms. These common pioneer organisms can have a preference in the temperatures they are in. Lichens are more inclined to be in regions with more rainfall, whereas algae and mosses have a preference of being in regions with more humidity.