The Philippine Sea is quite warm and reaches around 85 degrees. The climate is warm and tropical and relieves a lot of rainfall. Salinity stays around 34-35 and the waters are blue. The Philippine Sea plate moves northwest but there are many rapid currents. Its average depth ranges from 19,000 ft to 34,000 feet (in its deepest trench). The sea receives abundant sunshine each day, and it is not connected to many notable freshwater sources besides some rivers.

2. What would happen to the food web if all of the primary consumers became extinct?  Explain and give examples.

If all primary consumers were to become extinct, we would see a huge growth in the population of phytoplankton because there are no predators to eat it. Simultaneously, all tropic levels above primary consumers would decline. Secondary consumers would have no prey and begin to die off, resulting in little food for the tertiary consumers. For instance, with the absence of king crabs, pufferfish would have less food and its population would decline, meaning there are less around for the whitetip reef sharks to hunt.

3. What would happen if all of the decomposers were removed? Explain and give examples.  

If all decomposers would be removed, there would be a high amount of corpses left in the ocean and new nutrients would not be distributed through the food chain. For example, in my ecosystem, there would be no worms to decompose the rotting bodies of fish and crabs. Not only would they be piling up in the sea, but they also would not be broken down into the nutrients needed for primary producers. As a result, we would see a decline in population in all tropic levels as key producers die off.