Primary producers in all of these ecosystems vary. In rainforests, the primary producers include trees, shrubs, and epiphytes. An epiphyte is a plant that grows on another plant but it not directly parasitic. In mangroves, they are epiphyte and mangroves. The term mangrove describes how the trees live, it is not a taxonomic term. It simply describes a tree that lives in salt water. In a reef, the primary producers are corals, seagrass, and macroalgae (seaweed). Interestingly corals are also predators of the reef. The algae they are in a symbiotic relationship (zooxanthellae) with undergoes photosynthesis during the day. At night they hunt small organisms in the water and spear them with tiny barbs.

 

 

Herbivores (or primary consumers) in the mangroves, rainforest, and reefs all vary. In rainforests, these include birds, monkeys, agouti, tapir, butterflies, and sloths. In the mangroves there are fewer herbivores, these include mollusks and crabs. In the reef system, most organisms are herbivores. These include coral, smaller fish, sponges, plankton, and mollusks.

 

 

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