POBBLEBONK
- PANEL 8
THE FOOD WEB
Generally animals eat things that are smaller than themselves. Herbivores
eat vegetable matter, carnivores eat other animals, omnivores eat both
vegetable matter and other animals. In the Estuary environment their are
also animals known as filter feeders that filter their food out of the
water and detrivores that feed on the remnants of dead animals within
the system. These animals are generally very small and they are all very
important as they keep the water clean and provide a food for the larger
animals.
Both the river and the wetland have complex microscopic food webs which contain producers (bacteria and microalgae), herbivores, predators and detritivores, which eat plant litter and dead organisms. As things get visible at one to two millimetres and larger they are described as macroinvertebrates which include again worms, crustaceans, molluscs and insects in the freshwater systems. These become part of the diet of many of the species of fish, reptiles, amphibians, birds, mammals and humans.
Click on the image to find out more about each of the animals in this panel.
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