An Aquatic Ecosystem

Descriptive Essay # 104872

Biology > Zoology
Environmental Studies

Looks at the food web of an aquatic ecosystem.

1,355 words () | 5 sources | APA | 2008 United States

Paper Summary:

This paper discusses an aquatic ecosystem located in a botanical garden in which dragonfly larva eat stickleback fish, which eat daphnia. The author describes the dragonfly larva, the stickleback fish and the daphnia and points out that the actions of these three entities in this aquatic ecosystem transfer nutrients into energy as they move through the food chain. The author concludes that the presence of predators has an effect on the morphology of each of the species and any changes in their behavior affects the environment as a whole.

From the Paper:

"A study by Arnqvist and Johansson (1998) considers ways in which the dragonfly larva may show the effects of adaptive phenotypic plasticity, meaning that the form of the insect based on environmental considerations, one of which is the action of predator-induced defenses in prey. Predation is known to affect the phenotypic expression of a wide range of traits in a way that reduces the impact of predation. Most studies have examined traits that exhibit switched plasticity and usually do not examine the ontogenetic growth trajectories of defense structures."

Sample of Sources Used:

Arnquist, G. & Johansson, F. (1998, September 1). Ontogenetic reaction norms of predator-induced defensive morphology in dragonfly larvae. Ecology. Retrieved July 18, 2007 from http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1G1-21164753.html.
Dragonfly life cycle (2007). Retrieved July 19, 2007 from http://www2.kenyon.edu/Bfec/dragonfly/lifecycle.htm.
Parmentier & van Egmond (1999). Water Fleas. Microscopy UK. Retrieved July 18, 2007 from http://www.microscopy-uk.org.uk/mag/indexmag.html?http://www.microscopy-uk.org.uk/mag/artjun99/wflea.html.
Vamosi, S.M. (2002). Predation sharpens the adaptive peaks: Survival trade-offs in sympatric sticklebacks. Annals of Zoology 39: 237-248.
What are stickleback fish & gasterosteiformes (2002). Essortment. Retrieved July 19, 2007 from http://coco.essortment.com/sticklebackfish_ruid.htm.