- Primary productivity. It plays a particularly prominent role in increasing the nutrient levels and primary productivity (plant and algal growth) within its ecosystem
* Nutrient cycling. Snowy egrets feed primarily on fish , invertebrates , crustaceans, small mammals, reptiles, amphibiansand insects from shallows in wetlands, thereby influencing the populationsof aquatic organisms which inturn affects nutrient cycling and energy flow
- Ecosystem engineer . They are also significant ecosystem engineers that help maintain habitats for several co-inhabiting species of water birds