What does "ecological black market" mean and how does it relate to the official economy of the food chain?

Answer 1

?A complete microsystem-a community operating on the smallest possible scale-that manufactures and consumes particulate and dissolved carbon in amounts almost beyond comprehension. They function as sort of ecological black market below the "official economy" of the relatively huge diatoms and dinoflagellates. This "black market economy" is known as the microbial loop and is almost certainly more productive than the "official economy." It is not available to fishes and other larger consumers because the small animals on which they prey are unable to separate these exceedingly small organisms from the surrounding water. Microconsumers simply use the carbon and shuttle the metabolic products back to the small cyanobacterial producers. The cyanobacteria that are not consumed by microflagellates may become infected by viruses that cause the cells to burst, adding to the supply of dissolved organic material.