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The pelagic food web, showing the central involvement of marine microorganisms in how the ocean imports nutrients from and then exports them back to the atmosphere and ocean floor. 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.
Phytoplankton can also maintain their presence in the water column by being circulated in Langmuir rotations. [3] Periphytic algae, on the other hand, are attached to a substrate. In lakes and ponds, they can cover all benthic surfaces. Both types of plankton are important as food sources and as oxygen providers. [2]
The blooms can become toxic and deplete the water of oxygen. However, phytoplankton numbers are usually kept in check by the phytoplankton exhausting available nutrients and by grazing zooplankton. [156] Phytoplankton consist mainly of microscopic photosynthetic eukaryotes which inhabit the upper sunlit layer in all oceans. They need sunlight ...
Marine ciliates are major grazers of the phytoplankton. [97] [98] Phytoplankton primary production supports higher trophic levels and fuels microbial remineralization. [99] [100] The dominant pelagic grazers of phytoplankton are typically associated with distinct operating modes of the food web compartments and nutrient cycling.
The plankton found in this zone play a crucial role in the food web of the habitat and support the diet of many important organisms. The deepest zone is the profundal zone, with very little light, colder temperatures, and higher density than the previous layers. [7]
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'.
For example, they recycle nutrients, purify water, attenuate floods, recharge ground water and provide habitats for wildlife. [16] The biota of an aquatic ecosystem contribute to its self-purification, most notably microorganisms, phytoplankton, higher plants, invertebrates, fish, bacteria, protists, aquatic fungi, and more.
While the pelagic food web is based upon phytoplankton production, most of this production is diverted to the benthos via predation by the introduced Amur River clam (Corbula amurensis). Levels of phytoplankton biomass declined by an order of magnitude after the widespread introduction of C. amurensis in the mid-1980s, and have not rebounded.