While many animals eat photosynthetic creatures, only a few can photosynthesize. Sea slugs steal the genes that allow algae to photosynthesize as they eat them and pass on the algal cells to their offspring. Spotted salamanders have a similar relationship with algae, although as a vertebrate, it...
The data showed that although sea urchins negatively affected giant kelp by grazing on it, no direct link between kelp and other herbivores existed. In reality, herbivores eat varied diets, which means they aren't necessarily affected when giant kelp abundance declines. In fact, the majority of ...
On many sediments in the photic zone, however, the only photosynthetic organisms are microscopic benthic diatoms. Benthic organisms can be classified according to size. The macrobenthos are those organisms larger than 1 millimetre. Those that eat organic material in sediments are called deposit ...
Only a few taxa had alpha values below 0.5, such as meiobenthic organisms Nematoda and Harpacticoida, a few fishes that can feed on pelagic species, and predatory polychaetes that can feed on meiobenthic species. Table 4. The trophic position and alpha (in brackets) of benthic organisms from...
Only low concentrations of toxins have been detected in the edible flesh [66]. Similarly, with crustaceans, reports suggest that the majority of toxins accumulate in the digestive organs and visceral tissue [34,35], although, again, trace amounts of PST have been detected in edible white meat...
Humans also eat many types of algae. The marine algae nori and kelp have been harvested in China for over two thousand years. Spirulina, a blue-green algae that is rich in protein and vitamin B, is harvested from Lake Chad in Africa. The photosynthesis done by algae is very important ...