Primary Consumer

In one of the examples before, we had kelp as a producer. The kelp is eaten by fish such as the halfmoon fish, a fish called the opalaye, and clown fish. Therefore, the opaleye fish, the halfmoon fish, and the clown fish are all primary consumers. Plankton is eaten by whales, which filter the plankton by its teeth. Whales are then a primary consumer. Seaweed is also eaten by crabs, making them a primary consumer. IF primary consumers were taken out of the food chain, the food chain would not be able to manage along. Instead of energy source<-- producer<-- primary consumer<-- secondary consumer<-- scavenger<-- and decomposer, the food chain would become energy source<-- producer<-- secondary consumer<-- scavenger<-- and decomposer. With this layout of the food chain, four main problems would happen. First, the secondary consumers' food would disappear. The secondary consumer would have to eat its own kind to survive, so the secondary consumer has to reproduce more often in order to keep it in balance. Even though reproducing faster could be a solution, most secondary consumers today don't reproduce fast enough. One other problem is that all the producers alive would suck up the rich nutrients and humus from the soil. Later on, there would be no nutrients in the soil, because the decomposer has fewer carcasses to decompose. Then the producers would die out. The next problem is that there wouldn’t be enough carcasses for the scavenger to feast on. Once all the consumers die out, the scavenger wouldn’t have any food and would soon decline in number. Finally, the decomposer would decompose the dead scavengers. The decomposer wouldn't have anything to eat, and would soon become extinct.