Food Webs
15 food webs
African Great Rift Valley Lake Food Web
East Africa — Tanzania, Democratic Republic of Congo, Malawi, Uganda
The East African Great Lakes including Tanganyika, Malawi, and Victoria harbor extraordinary cichlid fish radiations with hundreds of endemic species in each lake. Lake Tanganyika …
Amazon Floodplain Lake Food Web
Amazon Basin — Brazil, Peru, Colombia
Amazon varzea floodplain lakes are seasonally connected to the main river channel, creating dynamic food webs that shift between isolation and connectivity. During high water, …
Amazon River Freshwater Food Web
Amazon Basin — Brazil, Peru, Colombia
The Amazon River system contains more freshwater fish species than any other basin, with over 3,000 described species. Seasonal flooding of the varzea forest creates …
Gangetic Plain Freshwater Food Web
Northern India and Bangladesh — Ganges River basin
The Ganges River system drains the most densely populated watershed on Earth, supporting the endangered Ganges river dolphin and gharial crocodilian. Heavy pollution, dam construction, …
Great Lakes Food Web
North America — United States and Canada border
The Laurentian Great Lakes contain 21% of the world's surface freshwater and support a food web dramatically altered by invasive species. Sea lampreys, alewives, and …
Lake Baikal Food Web
Siberia, Russia
Lake Baikal is the world's deepest and oldest lake, containing 20% of Earth's unfrozen surface freshwater. Over 80% of its species are endemic, including the …
Lake Malawi Cichlid Food Web
Southeast Africa — Malawi, Mozambique, Tanzania
Lake Malawi contains over 800 cichlid species, the most species-rich lake for a single fish family on Earth. Rocky shore mbuna cichlids have radiated into …
Lake Tanganyika Food Web
East Africa — Tanzania, Democratic Republic of Congo, Burundi, Zambia
Lake Tanganyika is the world's second-deepest lake with over 250 endemic cichlid species and an age of approximately 10 million years. Rock-dwelling cichlid communities exhibit …
Lake Titicaca Food Web
Peru and Bolivia — Andean Altiplano
Lake Titicaca at 3,812 meters is the world's highest navigable lake and the largest lake in South America by volume. Despite its altitude, the lake …
Lake Victoria Food Web
East Africa — Uganda, Kenya, Tanzania
Lake Victoria, Africa's largest lake, experienced one of the most dramatic food web collapses in recorded history when introduced Nile perch drove over 200 cichlid …
Mekong River Freshwater Food Web
Southeast Asia — China, Myanmar, Laos, Thailand, Cambodia, Vietnam
The Mekong River is Southeast Asia's longest river, sustaining the world's largest inland fishery that feeds over 60 million people. Seasonal flood pulses inundate the …
Okefenokee Swamp Food Web
Southeastern United States — Georgia and Florida
The Okefenokee Swamp in Georgia is one of the largest intact freshwater wetland ecosystems in North America, covering over 1,770 square kilometers. Acidic blackwater flows …
Rio de la Plata Estuary Food Web
South America — Argentina and Uruguay border
The Rio de la Plata is the widest river estuary in the world, where the Parana and Uruguay rivers discharge into the South Atlantic. This …
Saharan Oasis Food Web
Sahara Desert — Algeria, Tunisia, Libya, Egypt
Saharan oases are isolated freshwater systems sustained by fossil groundwater in the world's largest hot desert. Date palms provide canopy shade and food, while endemic …
Siberian Taiga River Food Web
Siberia, Russia — Ob, Yenisei, and Lena river basins
The Ob, Yenisei, and Lena river systems drain vast Siberian watersheds through boreal forest into the Arctic Ocean. These rivers support anadromous fish like sturgeon …