We say we need sharks, yet we rarely paint the full picture of their importance. Imagine a marine food web as a tightly woven net. Every strand represents a species which helps hold the shape of the whole. Pull one strand and the net doesn’t just lose a thread, it unravels—no longer able to hold the weight of its contents. This is the basic idea behind ecosystem balance, the health of a habitat depends not just on the presence of individuals, but on the relationships between them.
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