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This is an accepted version of this page This is the latest accepted revision, reviewed on 31 October 2024. Organisms living in water or air that are drifters on the current or wind This article is about the marine organisms. For other uses, see Plankton (disambiguation). Marine microplankton and mesoplankton Part of the contents of one dip of a hand net. The image contains diverse planktonic ...
t. e. Phytoplankton (/ ˌfaɪtoʊˈplæŋktən /) are the autotrophic (self-feeding) components of the plankton community and a key part of ocean and freshwater ecosystems. The name comes from the Greek words φυτόν (phyton), meaning ' plant ', and πλαγκτός (planktos), meaning 'wanderer' or 'drifter'. [1][2][3] Phytoplankton obtain ...
Zooplankton are the heterotrophic component of the planktonic community (the "zoo-" prefix comes from Ancient Greek: ζῷον, romanized: zôion, lit. 'animal'), having to consume other organisms to thrive. Plankton are aquatic organisms that are unable to swim effectively against currents.
A marine food web is a food web of marine life. At the base of the ocean food web are single-celled algae and other plant-like organisms known as phytoplankton. The second trophic level (primary consumers) is occupied by zooplankton which feed off the phytoplankton. Higher order consumers complete the web.
[140] [141] [142] The export rate of the lipid pump may vary from 1–9.3 g C m −2 y −1 across temperate and subpolar regions containing seasonally-migrating zooplankton. [142] The role of zooplankton, and particularly copepods, in the food web is crucial to the survival of higher trophic level organisms whose primary source of nutrition is ...
Mixotroph. A mixotroph is an organism that uses a mix of different sources of energy and carbon, instead of having a single trophic mode, on the continuum from complete autotrophy to complete heterotrophy. It is estimated that mixotrophs comprise more than half of all microscopic plankton. [ 1 ] There are two types of eukaryotic mixotrophs.
Category. v. t. e. Ichthyoplankton (from Greek: ἰχθύς, ikhthus, "fish"; and πλαγκτός, planktos, "drifter" [1]) are the eggs and larvae of fish. They are mostly found in the sunlit zone of the water column, less than 200 metres deep, which is sometimes called the epipelagic or photic zone. Ichthyoplankton are planktonic, meaning ...
The larvae feed on plankton, [51] and grow through ten molts into ten further larval stages, the last of which is around 30–32 mm (1.2–1.3 in) long. [53] The full series of larval molts takes around 7 months, and when the last stage molts, it metamorphoses into the puerulus state, which is a juvenile form of the adult, though still ...