Why are ocean food chains longer than land food chains?
Water covers 3/4 of the planet’s surface so there is much more space with enormous variation in aquatic biomes compared to terrestrial biomes. However they both start with single celled life at the base of the food web. It is just that a great deal of terrestrial trophic web activity takes place in the soil. In the soil are is an entire complex not obvious to the casual observer. It is estimated that 1 foot-acre of fertile soil contains as much as 1,000 pounds of bacteria. It is estimated that 1 foot-acre of fertile soil contains as much as 1,000 pounds of bacteria. The Edaphon consists of: fungi/algae 40%, bacteria/actinomycetes 40%, earthworms 12%, macrofauna 5%, and micro/mesofauna 3% The invertebrate soil mesofauna includes nematodes (roundworms), arthropods (mites, centipedes, springtails, insects), annelids, and molluscs (snails).
