Plankton
The term plankton refers to drifting organisms which inhabit the surface layers of oceans and lakes etc. (PELAGIC) They provide a crucial source of food to etc. This is a subject that is more than of interest to every person on the planet!
There are two main types of plankton- phytoplankton are plant plankton. (PHYTO)
- zooplankton are animal plankton. (ZOO)
Zooplankton are mostly single-celled organisms that range in size from small, single-celled organisms to jellyfish.
Phytoplankton are an essential part of the marine food chain. A good descriptive name for them is 'the grass of the sea'. Some phytoplankton are bacteria, others are protists, and most are single-celled plants.
Phytoplankton live near the surface of the ocean because they use sunglight to photosynthesis energy. They produce 50% of all photosynthetic activity on Earth. Consequently phytoplankton are responsible for half of the oxygen which exists in the Earth's atmosphere (the other 50% is produced by land plants).
Without phytoplankton there would be nothing alive in our oceans!
Through photosynthesis, phytoplankton consume carbon dioxide on a scale equivalent to forests and other land plants. Some of this carbon is carried to the deep ocean when phytoplankton die, and some is transferred to different layers of the ocean as phytoplankton are eaten by other creatures, which themselves reproduce, generate waste, and die. (PHYTO2)
References
(NHPTV) Natureworks
(PHYTO) Phytoplankton
(PHYTO2) Carbon cycle
(ZOO) Zooplankton
(PELAGIC) Pelagic Zone