Aquatic ecology and Biodiversity

Unit 7- Biotic communities

7.1. Biotic communities
The living organisms in a certain area form the biotic community. Through the food chain, animals obtain the energy for growth and survival. Three types of living organisms inhabit a biotic community.
Producers (or autotrophs) include plants and bacteria that survive through converting energy into food. Consumers (or heterotrophs) eat plants and animals to survive. The consumers include herbivores (primary consumers), which eat only plants; carnivores (secondary consumers), which eat other animals, and omnivores, which eat both plants and animals. A subcategory of consumers is detrivores, or detritus feeders. They eat plants and animals that are already dead. Their diet consists of dead organisms, as well as organic waste. Examples include some fishes crabs, vultures, and termites. The final type of living organism is decomposers. They change plants that have died into nutrients that allow them to survive. Animals that live in the water or soil often feed off dead decomposers.
Aquatic organisms are the referred to as biological components of an ecosystem.

They can grouped according to the conditions of their existence
1. Plankton
2. Benthos
3. Nekton
4. Bacteria
5. Fungi