food web

The authors write that the switch-off between precipitation types could have devastating ripple effects that include global heating, starvation of wildlife, harms to Indigenous communities, altered ocean currents, and changes in marine food webs.

This helps keep iron and other crucial nutrients in the food web.

Phytoplankton blooms, which sustain krill and many other parts of the food web, rely on that iron.

By feeding on iron-rich krill in the deep and returning some of that iron to the surface in the form of poop, whales help keep this crucial element in the food web.

The discovery may provide key context on the cats’ role in food webs, helping scientists better understand the effect of environmental changes on the species, researchers report October 6 in Ecology.

And other scientists are researching the effects microplastics have on the food web and our health.