Great Barrier Reef Essay

Great Barrier Reef, Australia
Organisms that can be found in this ecosystem –
Seaweed – P
Sea grass – P
Zooxanthellae – P
Phytoplankton – P
Zooplankton – C Omnivore
Krill – C Omnivore
Prawn – D
Platygyra hard coral – C Omnivore
Turbinaria hard coral – C Omnivore
Bottlebrush coral – C Omnivore
Bubble coral – C Carnivore
Needle coral – C Omnivore
Giant clam – C Omnivore
Cone shell – C Omnivore
Nudibranchs – C Omnivore
Mollusks – C Carnivore
Zig-zag oysters – C Omnivore
Cowries – C Omnivore
Sea slugs – C Omnivore
Sea urchins – C Omnivore
Sea cucumbers – D
Sea stars – C Omnivore

Feather stars – C Omnivore
Brittle stars – D
Crown-of-Thorns starfish – C Carnivore
Pipefish – C Omnivore
Shrimp – D
Crab – D
Crayfish – D
Yellow burrowing sponge – C Omnivore
Tubular sponge – C Omnivore
Thick yellow fan sponge – C Omnivore
Octopus – C Carnivore
Squid – C Carnivore
Cuttlefish – C Carnivore
Then the primary consumers in the Great Barrier Reef are mostly the green sea turtles and dugongs because they are the herbivores and eat the producers. From there the secondary consumers in the reef would be what eats the primary consumers and these organisms would mostly be the bigger reef fish like the parrot fish, sturgeon fish, and also turtles like the leatherback sea turtle, hawksbill sea turtle, and other organisms like that. Then from there are the tertiary consumers which consume the secondary consumers and some examples of these in the reef are the epaulette shark, whale shark, tiger shark, and other examples like that. The last category of the organisms would be the decomposers which are the organisms that are stay on the bottom of the reef and eat whatever is down there and those are the prawns, sea cucumbers, shrimp, crayfish, crab, and brittle