Local Food Web

Food Web

In Marin there aren’t many natural food webs still present that include mammals and other animals.  Humans have pushed out most animals except for small rodents, deer and snakes.  One food web that still exists includes small plants and vegetation, insects, mice, squirrels, snakes and birds.  At the producer level, the plants capture energy from the sun.  Insects like spiders then eat these plants, which are then eaten by small mammals like squirrels, mice and rabbits.  These small mammals are then consumed by on by snakes, large birds and even bobcats.  Bacteria and fungi then decompose dead organic matter and dead animals, returning their nutrients (such as nitrogen and carbon) into the environment.