The impact on bio-diversity
As you may or may not already know, Hawksbill Sea Turtles have a HUGE impact on the oceans function and bio-diversity. Without Hawksbill sea turtles, this diverse and smooth function of the marine ecosystem could collapse. Just like a jigsaw puzzle, the ocean needs all its parts to be complete. With one part missing, everything could change. . .
Below are some things that could happen if the Hawksbill sea turtle became extinct:
1. Sine the 'Hawksbill sea turtles' have beak like mouths, they prey on sponges (an invertebrate) that lives on the ocean floor. By removing these sponges, Hawksbill sea turtles are helping corals / reefs to grow and become bigger because sponges overtake corals really easily. If sea turtles became extinct, sponges would take over the entire coral kingdom leaving us with only one species of "plant" left on the ocean floor, which causes an imbalance when we refer to: biodiversity.
2. Hawksbill sea turtles also provide food for other creatures that live in the ocean such as small fish and shrimp that feed on the algae and barnacles stuck to the turtles shell. If these sea turtles are removed, shrimp and small fish won't have that much food to eat since the sea turtles provide a lot of their diet.
3. The Hawksbill sea turtle also keeps the food web balanced since they eat jellyfish. If sea turtles go extinct, the jellyfish population could increase by double! And the species of fish that jellyfish eat could decrease (might even go extinct since there are so many jellyfish) and therefore there will be a huge imbalance in the food web, which then refers back to: biodiversity.
So you see, the extinction of these amazing sea creatures known as the 'Hawksbill sea turtle' could lead to coral extinction (from sponges overtaking them,) lack of food for small fish & shrimp and a huge imbalance in the food web! In conclusion, Hawksbill sea turtles keep the ocean healthy by playing an important part in biodiversity and not to mention the peaceful function of the ocean's ecosystem!
picture sources (listed in order)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coral (corals)
https://www.flickr.com/photos/strulock/68696572/ (sponges)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sea_turtle (turtle with algae)
https://www.flickr.com/photos/asimulator/2232982674/
(lots of jellyfish)
website sources
websites in mla format
Why Healthy Oceans need sea turtles: The importance of sea turtles to marine ecosystem "Wilson, E.G., Miller, K.L., Allison, D. and Magliocca, M." 2004 http://oceana.org/sites/default/files/reports/Why_Healthy_Oceans_Need_Sea_Turtles.pdf