Phytoplankton are the autotrophic component of plankton. An autotroph (from the Greek autos = self and trophe = nutrition is an Organism that produces complex Organic compounds from simple Plankton consist of any drifting Organisms ( Animals Plants Archaea, or Bacteria) that inhabit the Pelagic zone of The name comes from the Greek terms, phyton or "plant" and πλαγκτος ("planktos"), meaning "wanderer" or "drifter". Greek (el ελληνική γλώσσα or simply el ελληνικά — "Hellenic" is an Indo-European language, spoken today by 15-22 million people mainly Plants are living Organisms belonging to the kingdom Plantae. [1] Most phytoplankton are too small to be individually seen with the unaided eye. The naked eye is a Figure of speech referring to human Visual perception that is unaided by enhancing equipment such as a Telescope or However, when present in high enough numbers, they may appear as a green discoloration of the water due to the presence of chlorophyll within their cells (although the actual color may vary with the species of phytoplankton present due to varying levels of chlorophyll or the presence of accessory pigments such as phycobiliproteins, xanthophylls, etc. Chlorophyll is a green Pigment found in most Plants Algae and Cyanobacteria. Phycobiliproteins are water-soluble Proteins present in Cyanobacteria and certain algae ( Rhodophytes cryptomonads, Glaucocystophytes Xanthophylls (originally phylloxanthins) are yellow Pigments from the Carotenoid group ).
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Ecology
Phytoplankton obtain energy through a process called photosynthesis and must therefore live in the well-lit surface layer (termed the euphotic zone) of an ocean, sea, lake, or other body of water. An algal bloom is a rapid increase in the population of Algae in an aquatic system Photosynthesis is a Metabolic pathway that converts Light Energy into Chemical energy. The photic zone or euphotic zone ( Greek 'well lit' is the depth of the water in a Lake or Ocean, that is exposed to sufficient Sunlight An ocean (from Greek, ''Okeanos'' (Oceanus) is a major body of saline water, and a principal component of the Hydrosphere. This article is about the body of water For other uses see SEA and Seas. A lake (from Latin lacus) is a Terrain feature (or Physical feature) a body of Liquid on the surface of a world that is localized to the Through photosynthesis, phytoplankton are responsible for much of the oxygen present in the Earth's atmosphere – half of the total amount produced by all plant life. Oxygen (from the Greek roots ὀξύς (oxys (acid literally "sharp" from the taste of acids and -γενής (-genēs (producer literally begetteris the Temperature and layers The temperature of the Earth's atmosphere varies with altitude the mathematical relationship between temperature and altitude varies among five [2] Their cumulative energy fixation in carbon compounds (primary production) is the basis for the vast majority of oceanic and also many freshwater food webs (chemosynthesis is a notable exception). See also Primary production (economics Primary production is the production of Organic compounds from atmospheric or aquatic Carbon dioxide, Freshwater is a word that refers to bodies of water such as Ponds lakes rivers and streams containing low concentrations of dissolved Salts and other Total dissolved Food chains, also called food networks and/or trophic networks, describe the feeding relationships between species within an Ecosystem. Chemosynthesis is the biological conversion of one or more carbon molecules (usually Carbon dioxide or Methane) and nutrients into organic matter using the Oxidation As a side note, one of the more remarkable food chains in the ocean – remarkable because of the small number of links – is that of phytoplankton fed on by krill (a type of shrimp) fed on by baleen whales. Food chains, also called food networks and/or trophic networks, describe the feeding relationships between species within an Ecosystem. Krill are a type of Shrimp -like marine Invertebrate animal These small Crustaceans are important organisms of the Zooplankton, particularly Baleen or whalebone is the means by which Baleen whales feed These whales do not have Teeth, but instead have rows of baleen plates in Whales are marine mammals which are neither Dolphins (ie members of the families Delphinidae or Platanistoidae) nor Porpoises Orcas
Phytoplankton are also crucially dependent on minerals. These are primarily macronutrients such as nitrate, phosphate or silicic acid, whose availability is governed by the balance between the so-called biological pump and upwelling of deep, nutrient-rich waters. A nutrient is food or chemicals that an organism needs to live and grow or a substance used in an organism's metabolism which must be taken in from its environment In Inorganic chemistry, a nitrate is a salt of Nitric acid with an Ion composed of one Nitrogen and three Oxygen atoms A phosphate, an Inorganic chemical, is a salt of Phosphoric acid. Silicic acid is a general name for a family of chemical compounds of the element Silicon, Hydrogen, and Oxygen, with the general formula n In Oceanic Biogeochemistry, the biological pump is the sum of a suite of biologically-mediated processes that transport Carbon from the surface Upwelling is an oceanographic phenomenon that involves wind-driven motion of dense cooler and usually nutrient-rich water towards the ocean surface replacing the warmer However, across large regions of the World Ocean such as the Southern Ocean, phytoplankton are also limited by the lack of the micronutrient iron. The World Ocean, world ocean, or global ocean is the interconnected system of the Earth 's Oceanic (or marine) Waters The Southern Ocean, also known as the Great Southern Ocean, the Antarctic Ocean and the South Polar Ocean, comprises the southernmost waters of Micronutrients are Nutrients needed for life in small quantities Iron (ˈаɪɚn is a Chemical element with the symbol Fe (ferrum and Atomic number 26 This has led to some scientists advocating iron fertilization as a means to counteract the accumulation of human-produced carbon dioxide (CO2) in the atmosphere[3]. Iron fertilization is the intentional introduction of Iron, an essential Nutrient, to the upper Ocean to stimulate the marine Food chain An atmosphere (from Greek ατμός - atmos, " Vapor " + σφαίρα - sphaira, " Sphere "
While almost all phytoplankton species are obligate photoautotrophs, there are some that are mixotrophic and other, non-pigmented species that are actually heterotrophic (the latter are often viewed as zooplankton). Photoautotrophs or Phototroph ( Gk: photo = light auto = self troph = nourishment are Organisms (commonly plants that carry out Photosynthesis A mixotrophic organism is one that obtains its electrons from an inorganic electron source ( Hydrogen-sulfide, Ammonium, Hydrogen) but uses organic matter A heterotrophs, or chemoorganotrophy ( Greek heterone = (another and trophe = nutrition is an Organism that requires Zooplankton are the Heterotrophic (sometimes detritivorous) type of Plankton. Of these, the best known are dinoflagellate genera such as Noctiluca and Dinophysis, that obtain organic carbon by ingesting other organisms or detrital material. The dinoflagellates are a large group of Flagellate Protists Most are marine Plankton, but A genus (plural genera from Γένος Latin genus "descent family type gender" is a low-level Taxonomic The Noctilucales are a peculiar order of marine Dinoflagellates They differ from most others in that the mature cell is Diploid and its nucleus does not The Dinophyceae are the main class of Dinoflagellates They include all species where the nucleus remains a dinokaryon throughout the entire cell cycle which is typically Ingestion is the consumption of a substance by an Organism. In Animals it normally is accomplished by taking in the substance through the Mouth into the In Biology, detritus is non-living particulate organic material (as opposed to dissolved organic material
The term phytoplankton encompasses all photoautotrophic microorganisms in aquatic food webs. Food chains, also called food networks and/or trophic networks, describe the feeding relationships between species within an Ecosystem. Phytoplankton serve as the base of the aquatic food web, providing an essential ecological function for all aquatic life. However, unlike terrestrial communities, where most autotrophs are plants, phytoplankton are a diverse group, incorporating protistan eukaryotes and both eubacterial and archaebacterial prokaryotes. In biological terms a community is a group of interacting Organisms sharing an environment. Plants are living Organisms belonging to the kingdom Plantae. Protists (ˈproʊtɨst are a diverse group of eukaryotic Microorganisms Historically protists were treated as the kingdom Protista but this Animals Plants fungi, and Protists are eukaryotes (juːˈkærɪɒt or -oʊt Organisms whose cells are organized into complex The Bacteria ( singular: bacterium) are a large group of unicellular Microorganisms Typically a few Micrometres in length bacteria have The prokaryotes (proʊˈkærioʊts singular prokaryote /proʊˈkæriət/ are a group of Organisms that lack a Cell nucleus (= karyon or any other There are about 5,000 species of marine phytoplankton. [4] There is uncertainty in how such diversity has evolved in an environment where competition for only a few resources would suggest limited potential for niche differentiation. The term niche differentiation (synonymous with niche segregation, niche separation and niche partitioning) as it applies to the field of Ecology [5]
In terms of numbers, the most important groups of phytoplankton include the diatoms, cyanobacteria and dinoflagellates, although many other groups of algae are represented. Diatoms ( Greek: (dia = "through" + (temnein = "to cut" i Cyanobacteria, also known as blue-green algae, blue-green bacteria or Cyanophyta, is a phylum of Bacteria that obtain their energy The dinoflagellates are a large group of Flagellate Protists Most are marine Plankton, but Algae ( sing. alga are a large and diverse group of simple typically Autotrophic organisms ranging from Unicellular to Multicellular forms One group, the coccolithophorids, is responsible (in part) for the release of significant amounts of dimethyl sulfide (DMS) into the atmosphere. Coccolithophores (also called coccolithophorids) are single-celled Algae, Protists and Phytoplankton belonging to the Division Dimethyl sulfide (DMS or methylthiomethane is an organosulfur compound with the formula (CH32S Temperature and layers The temperature of the Earth's atmosphere varies with altitude the mathematical relationship between temperature and altitude varies among five DMS is converted to sulfate and these sulfate molecules act as cloud condensation nuclei, increasing general cloud cover. Cloud condensation nuclei or CCN s (also known as cloud seeds) are small particles (typically 0 In oligotrophic oceanic regions such as the Sargasso Sea or the South Pacific gyre, phytoplankton is dominated by the small sized cells, called picoplankton, mostly composed of cyanobacteria (Prochlorococcus, Synechococcus) and picoeucaryotes such as Micromonas. An oligotrophic Ecosystem or environment is one that offers little to sustain Life. The Sargasso Sea is an elongated region in the middle of the North Atlantic Ocean surrounded by Ocean currents. The Pacific Ocean is the largest of the Earth 's Oceanic divisions A gyre is any manner of swirling Vortex. It is often used to describe large-scale Wind or Ocean currents. Photosynthetic picoplankton is the fraction of the Plankton performing Photosynthesis composed by cells between 0 Cyanobacteria, also known as blue-green algae, blue-green bacteria or Cyanophyta, is a phylum of Bacteria that obtain their energy Prochlorococcus is a Genus of very small (06 µm) marine Cyanobacteria with an unusual pigmentation ( Chlorophyll Synechococcus is a unicellular Cyanobacterium that is very widespread in the marine environment. In taxonomy, Micromonas is a genus of Algae, specifically of the Mamiellaceae.
References
- ^ Thurman, H. V. (1997). Introductory Oceanography. New Jersey, USA: Prentice Hall College.
- ^ NASA Earth Observatory - Satellite sees ocean plants increate
- ^ Richtel, M. (May 1, 2007), “Recruiting Plankton to Fight Global Warming”, New York Times, <http://www.nytimes.com/2007/05/01/business/01plankton.html?ref=science>
- ^ Hallegraeff, G. M. (2003). Harmful algal blooms: a global overview. in Hallegraeff, G. M. , Andewrson, D. M. and Cembella, A. D. (eds) 2003. Manual on Harmful Marine Microalgae. UNESCO, Paris
- ^ G. E. Hutchinson (1961). "The paradox of the plankton". Am. Nat. 95: 137-145. doi:. A digital object identifier ( DOI) is a permanent identifier given to an Electronic document.
See also
- Algae
- Algae culture
- Bacterioplankton
- Biological pump
- Iron fertilization
- Microalgae
- Ocean acidification
- Photosynthetic picoplankton
- Plankton
- Zooplankton
External links
- NOAA, DMS and Climate
- Plankton*Net : Images of planktonic species
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