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Title: How are meiofaunal organisms important for providing food for primary consumers? Post by: salmayemmas on Aug 14, 2011 Meiofaunal organisms —fungi, algae and microscopic animals — form the base of the food chain. What effects do you think the oil spill might have on the meiofaunal organisms?
Title: Re: How are meiofaunal organisms important for providing food for primary consumers? Post by: how_mendel on Aug 14, 2011 Well to start, algae are photosynthetic protist species that undergo photosynthesis and are food for fish. With the oil spill, you destroy the primary producers, because technically, algae are primary producers. Therefore, this affects the animals that depend on them for food. Fungi are decomposers, so they break-down dead matter. All fungi are eukaryotic heterotrophs and are saprobes – absorbing their food from decaying matter around them. They also release enzymes in the immediate area that breakdown organic material and then it is absorbed using endocytosis. Now, if you remove these from the environment, say due to an oil spill, you loose that recycling ability that the environment has, that is, breaking down organic matter in nutrients for the next generation. Microscopic animals, such as plankton, are food for larger animals, including whales. Removing this food source will affect nearly every animal that depends on them. ;)
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