Search results
Results from the WOW.Com Content Network
The North Atlantic Aerosols and Marine Ecosystems Study (NAAMES) project logo. Image courtesy of NASA. The North Atlantic Aerosols and Marine Ecosystems Study (NAAMES) was a five-year scientific research program that investigated aspects of phytoplankton dynamics in ocean ecosystems, and how such dynamics influence atmospheric aerosols, clouds, and climate.
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'.
The polar regions are characterised by truncated food webs, and the role of viruses in ecosystem function is likely to be even greater than elsewhere in the marine food web. Their diversity is still relatively under-explored, and the way in which they affect polar communities is not well understood, [ 139 ] particularly in nutrient cycling.
This is an accepted version of this page This is the latest accepted revision, reviewed on 23 February 2025. 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 ...
Actual salinity varies among different marine ecosystems. [4] Marine ecosystems can be divided into many zones depending upon water depth and shoreline features. The oceanic zone is the vast open part of the ocean where animals such as whales, sharks, and tuna live. The benthic zone consists of substrates below water where many invertebrates live.
"Marine protists are a polyphyletic group of organisms playing major roles in the ecology and biogeochemistry of the oceans, including performing much of Earth's photosynthesis and driving the carbon, nitrogen, and silicon cycles. In addition, marine protists occupy key positions in the tree of life, including as the closest relatives of ...
Mycoplankton are saprotrophic members of the plankton communities of marine and freshwater ecosystems. [1] [2] They are composed of filamentous free-living fungi and yeasts that are associated with planktonic particles or phytoplankton. [3]
Biologically there is an important distinction between plankton and nekton. Plankton are the aggregate of relatively passive organisms which float or drift with the currents, such as tiny algae and bacteria, small eggs and larvae of marine organisms, and protozoa and other minute predators.