Grazing Aquatic Animals

Grazing Aquatic Animals are also another factor causing a regular variation in algal communities.

Grazers and predators form the backbone of food webs and influence ecosystems in very different ways. Many invertebrates and some fishes feed on attached algae. Great quantities of algae may be consumed quite rapidly.

Nutrient levels impact the food chain or a given food web depending on how many grazers are present, how many trophic levels exist, and how grazers react to an increase in resources. The number of grazers in the food chain is regulated by the number predators.

Larger animals, including some marine snails, fish, reptiles, and mammals, graze on algae. It is often possible to observe cleared patches of stone surfaces around Caddis worms, snails and limpets, which have presumably been caused by the grazing of these animals.

End of Grazing Aquatic Animals

Next Topics about Algae…
Blue-green Algae
Euglenoid
Green Algae
Yellow-Golden-brown Algae and Diatoms
Brown Algae
Red Algae
Significance of Algae

Next Topics…
Fungi
Liverworts and Mosses
Vascular Plants

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Physical Water Quality
Chemical Water Quality
Biological Water Quality
Water Basics 101

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