Planktonplankton Plankton is a generic term for a wide variety of the smallest yet most important organisms form that drift in our oceans. They can exist in larger forms of more than 20cm as the larval forms of jellyfish, squid, starfish, sea urchins, etc. and can be algae, bacterial or even viral down to as small as 0.2µm. They are nutrient and light dependent, and form the essential foodchain baseline for larger dependent aquatic lifeforms. Fish species rely on the density and distribution of zooplankton to coincide with first-feeding larvae for good survival of their larvae, which can otherwise starve. Man-made impacts such as dredging, dams on rivers, waste dumping, etc can severely affect zooplankton density and distribution, which can in turn strongly affect larval survival and thus breeding success and stock strength of fish species and the entire ecosystem. They also form the essential basis of CO2 take up in our seas ecosystem, hence Global Warming. Although they are tiny, the impacts of plankton are huge. For example, they produce 40-60% of the air we breathe!
Courtesy of secchidisk.org
Scubadiving.com reports, 31st July 2015: It’s the “dark matter” of the oceans—almost invisible, yet it rules the fate of all our seas, perhaps even planet Earth itself. Plankton makes up one of the world’s smallest categories of beings, yet it plays an enormously large role in life on this planet as the base of the entire ocean food chain. The Greek planktos means wanderer or drifter.
Aptly named, these tiny plants and animals are at the mercy of the element that supports them. Phytoplanktonphytoplankton Microscopic marine plants, usually algae. These microscopic plants are at the base of the food chain, and are the food of zooplankton (microscopic marine animals). Note: phytoplankton are microscopic plants, and zooplankton are microscopic animals. produce 40 to 60 percent of the oxygen we breathe and, together with zooplanktonzooplankton Zooplankton form the group of tiny animals such as minuscule jellyfish and rotifers present in the marine environment. They are a major source of food for those higher up the food chain, and their numbers relate directly as a good indicator to the nutrient enrichment of the sea of the area. Note: phytoplankton are microscopic plants, and zooplankton are microscopic animals., create a food webfood web The totality of interacting food chains in an ecological community that supports all other marine life.
Scientists are now studying the effects of climate change — specifically the warming of the sea surface — on all forms of plankton, and the possible dire implications of those effects on the marine food chain.
Source: Scuba Diving, 31st July 2015. For further details, see www.scubadiving.com/powered-plankton