Producers: Strangler fig, Coconut Trees, Banana Trees, Bamboo Trees,
Primary Consumers: Macaws, Monkeys, Fruit Bats, Grasshoppers
Secondary Consumers: Vampire Bats, Iguanas, Frogs
Tertiary Consumers: Python & Jaguar
Primary Consumers: Macaws, Monkeys, Fruit Bats, Grasshoppers
Secondary Consumers: Vampire Bats, Iguanas, Frogs
Tertiary Consumers: Python & Jaguar
the food chain of the rainforest
The relationships among species in an ecosystem have often been described as a “food chain” in which the larger animals eat the smaller. But the food-chain image is a two-dimension one, when in fact the picture is much more complex. Rain forest relationships are better described as a web—a rainforest food web.
In this complex rain forest web of life, the insects of the rainforest floor tend to eat plants, fungi, decaying material and other insects, and in turn be eaten by spiders, among a host of other creatures. But spiders themselves can fall victim to insects in the form of wasps and army ants. And while it’s easy to imagine rain forest birds eating spiders, it is also true that at least one species of spider in the rainforest food web—the Goliath trantula—eats birds. (See a short video on the Goliath here.)