Foundation species
Coral is the foundation species of coral reef ecosystems. The photosynthetic algae within the corals provides energy for them so that they can build the reefs.
Source
Boundless vets and curates high-quality, openly licensed content from around the Internet. This particular resource used the following sources:
"OpenStax College, Community Ecology. October 17, 2013."
http://cnx.org/content/m44878/latest/Figure_45_06_11.jpg
OpenStax CNX
CC BY 3.0.
