Shore chains and webs

1. Limpets (molluscs) grazing on diatoms (small algae), which are attached to rocks
2.
3. dog-whelks (snails) eating barnacles (crustaceans) and mussels (molluscs)
4.
5. crabs consuming dead mussels in cracks in the rocks
6.
7. barnacles feeding on zooplankton (animal plankton, often one celled organisms or tiny
larvae of crustaceans, etc.)
8.
9. mussels feeding on phytoplankton (plant plankton single celled algae, etc.)
10.
11. periwinkles (snails) feeding on diatoms attached to seaweeds
12.
13. sea-gulls (scavenging sea birds) feeding on dead crabs
14.
15. turnstones (a wading bird) feeding on dog-whelks, limpets and periwinkles, which they
kill.

Organism Low/Hi
gh tide
Herb/Car
ni/Ovi
Cons/producer Autotroph
s

Detritivor
es
Heterotr
ophs

Limpets high herbivore primary consumer x
Diatoms low - producer x
Dog whelks low carnivore
s
secondary consumers

x
Barnacles high omnivore
s
primary consumer x
Mussels low herbivore
s
primary consumer x
Crabs low omnivore
s
secondary consumers x
Zooplankton high omnivore primary consumer x
Phytoplankto
n
low - producer x
Periwinkles high herbivore
s
primary consumer x
Seagulls low carnivore
s
tertiary consumers x
Turnstones high carnivore secondary consumers x


Rocky shore community food chains


Rocky shore community food web