Florida Keys Mangrove Food Web
Mangrove
Mangroves
Florida Keys and Florida Bay, United States
Description
The Florida Keys mangrove-seagrass-reef continuum connects three distinct habitats into an integrated food web. Mangrove islands provide nursery habitat for tarpon, snook, and bonefish that later move to seagrass flats and coral reefs. Great white herons and roseate spoonbills nest in mangrove rookeries, and American crocodiles occupy the brackish transition zone.
Trophic Pyramid
Level 5
Decomposers
Mangrove crab
Sponges
Detritivorous shrimp
3 species
Level 4
Tertiary Consumers
American crocodile
Osprey
Lemon shark
3 species
Level 3
Secondary Consumers
Tarpon
Snook
Great white heron
3 species
Level 2
Primary Consumers
Mangrove snapper juveniles
Pink shrimp
Manatee
3 species
Level 1
Producers
Red mangrove
Turtle grass
Mangrove algae
3 species
Apex Predators
Tertiary Consumers
Secondary Consumers
Primary Consumers
Producers
Key Interactions
- Juvenile snapper and grouper use mangrove prop roots as predator refugia before migrating to reefs
- Pink shrimp nurseries in seagrass-mangrove ecotones support a major commercial fishery
- American crocodiles are the apex predator in brackish mangrove channels
- Roseate spoonbills sweep their bills through shallow water to catch shrimp and small fish