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Phytoplankton (/ ˌ f aɪ t oʊ ˈ p l æ ŋ k t ə n /) 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'.
Together with the phytoplankton, they form the base of the food pyramid that supports most of the world's great fishing grounds. Many zooplankton are tiny animals found with the phytoplankton in oceanic surface waters, and include tiny crustaceans, and fish larvae and fry (recently hatched fish).
Freshwater plankton are similar to marine plankton, but are found in lakes and rivers. Mostly, plankton just drift where currents take them, though some, like jellyfish, swim slowly but not fast enough to generally overcome the influence of currents. Although plankton are usually thought of as inhabiting water, there are also airborne versions ...
Freshwater phytoplankton is the phytoplankton occurring in freshwater ecosystems. [1] It can be distinguished between limnoplankton ( lake phytoplankton), heleoplankton (phytoplankton in ponds ), and potamoplankton ( river phytoplankton).
[29] [27] Viral infection is an important cause of phytoplankton death in the oceans, [30] and it has recently been shown that calcification can influence the interaction between a coccolithophore and its virus. [31] [32] The major predators of marine phytoplankton are microzooplankton like ciliates and dinoflagellates.
Phytoplankton are found drifting in the water column of the pelagic zone. Many species have a higher density than water, which should cause them to sink inadvertently down into the benthos . To combat this, phytoplankton have developed density-changing mechanisms, by forming vacuoles and gas vesicles , or by changing their shapes to induce drag ...
They are phytoplankton typically found in freshwater and marine systems, living in both the water column and sediment. [1] They are unicellular species which exist individually, or in chains or groups. Depending on the species, their sizes can range from a few micrometers (μm) to a few hundred micrometers.
In other words, larger phytoplankton, such as diatoms which thrive in nutrient-rich waters, were not found. Instead, the surface waters were replete with smaller pico- and nanoplankton. [ 6 ] Based on laboratory nutrient experiments, iron was hypothesized to be a key limiting micronutrient.
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