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Asked by neil-smith to Barbastelle Bat, Eurasian Otter, European Flat Oyster, Glow Worm, Lundy Cabbage, Scaly Cricket, Scottish Wildcat, Spot Fly, Strapwort on 20 Nov 2017.
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Eurasian Otter answered on 20 Nov 2017:
Great questions – this is one of our favourites. We otters are at the end of the aquatic food chain in the UK. This is why we are so sensitive to environmental pollutants accumulating in the environment. The Cardiff University Otter Group are doing otter research precisely for this reason. We hope that protecting otters and understanding their ecology will help protect aquatic ecosystems in general.
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Glow Worm answered on 21 Nov 2017:
We’re predators at the top of a very short food chain, with snails eating plants and us eating snails (we carry a poison which stops bigger predators eating us). We each eat perhaps 70 snails in our lifetime, so if each snail is carrying a small amount of pesticide or pollution it will build up in our bodies and be released in one spurt when we pupate, which could be fatal or reduce how well we are able to breed.
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Scottish Wildcat answered on 21 Nov 2017:
Wildcats are at the third trophic level: Carnivores that eat herbivores (Rabbits)
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Barbastelle Bat answered on 27 Nov 2017:
Barbastelle bats are high in the food chain because they eat many different kinds of insects, some of which are a part of a long food chain with many trophic levels. Bats are not at the top of their food chain though, as birds of prey (particularly owls) and domestic cats in particular will kill and eat bats.
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Scaly Cricket answered on 4 Dec 2017:
Scaly crickets are omnivorous scavengers, so are nature’s recyclers – bringing energy and nutrients from dead plants and animals back into the food chain. The Scaly crickets themselves are preyed upon by several spiders and probably predatory beetles and centipedes that share their shingle beach habitat. These, in turn are probably food to small mammals such as shrews, which may be eaten by top predators such as owls.
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