Marine Biology

Plankton

General Info: Plankton comes from the Greek

word planktos which means drifter.

Movement

Most organisms move with the current.

Some have the ability to move on their own. For example, copepods are the fastest animal for their size- they move more than 500 body lengths per second.

Two Types of Plankton Phytoplanktonwhich are autotrophs (planklike) Zooplanktonwhich are heterotrohs (animal-like)

Location- Epipelagic region of the ocean: This location is near the surface where the water

is warmer and lighter. The depth is from the surface to 200m or 650 ft. It often corresponds with the photic zone, the is the region where light penetrates.

Location: Epipelagic region of the ocean (cont)

Shallowest part of the pelagic realm The pelagic realm is the vast open ocean
away from the bottom and the shore

Location: Epipelagic region of the ocean (cont)

Coastal/neritic: are waters that lie over the

continental shelf (small portion of the epipelagic) Oceanic: are surface waters beyond the continental shelf.

Location: Epipelagic region of the ocean (cont)

This area lacks deposit feeders since there is NO

bottom Suspended feeders are therefore ABUNDANT

None of these deposit feeders!

All energy comes from the sun:

Nearly all primary producers (photosynthesis) from the
ocean occurs in the epipelagic zone Food produced sinks or is carried by the currents to other parts of the ocean. Autotrophs carry out photosynthesis by taking in carbon dioxide and converting it to organic food (glucose)

Plankton have trouble remaining afloat: Organisms and their shells are more dense than

water and therefore should sink Coping strategies:

Increase water resistance- the greater the surface area the more resistance Being small is helpful Flat shape also increases surface area, as do projections and spines

Plankton have trouble remaining afloat (cont):

Coping strategies (cont)

Increase buoyancy Some store lipids as vacuoles of oil (less dense than water) Some use pockets of gas which is less dense than water Regulating the amount of gas can move the organism up and down the water column Exchange heavy ions for lighter ones

Vertical Migration
Predators abound the epipelagic. Therefore,
some zooplankton sink where there is little light during the day and rise to feed at night

Recent Research
biodiversity

New methods to count and identify phytoplankton MIT researchers discovered tiny but abundant new
species called prophlorophytes DNA research to understand evolution and relationships among plankton
Flow cytometry is optical technique that can process hundreds of thousands per minute

 Photosynthetic Autotrophs
Greater than 95% of photosynthesis in the ocean Produce nearly 50% of the oxygen in our atmosphere Primary producer in the epipelagic- WHY? Gouped by size Picoplankton- too small to be caught in nets Net plankton- (micro, meso, macro, nano), large enough to be caught in nets

Phytoplankton

 2 Main Types

Phytoplankton (cont)
Diatoms Kingdom Protista Have characteristics of both plants and animals Prefer temperate, polar, and nutrient-rich water They are unicellular, although some gather in chains or clusters Enclosed in a cell wall that is made out of silicon dioxide

Phytoplankton (cont)

Diatoms (cont) They have a glasslike frustules which is a shell with tightfitting halves. There is a wide variety of beautiful frustules! Some frustules have perforations and spines that allow light to pass through and gasses and nutrients to enter and leave Frustules from dead diatoms accumulate on the ocean bottom and are called diatomaceous ooze Fossilized sediments of the ooze found inland are mined as diatomaceous earth which is used for polishing (toothpaste), insulating, and filtering (swimming pools)

Phytoplankton (cont)
Diatoms (cont)

Reproduce rapidly when conditions are

good. Other species are depend on this and it influences the success of some fish species.

 Second type

Phytoplankton (cont)
Dinoflagellates Kingdom Protista Most abundant phytoplankton in warm, tropical

waters Unicellular with a cell wall made of cellulose plates Most outstanding characteristic: 2 unequal flagella
One wraps around the groove in the middle of the cell One trails free They both direct movement in practically any direction

Phytoplankton (cont)
Dinoflagellates (cont) Unique DNA remains coiled in chromosomes
throughout life Although autotrophic they also feed on other food particles Reproduce by cell division
Huge surges of reproduction are called blooms They produced the Red Tides which actually turned the water red to red-brown

Phytoplankton (cont)
Dinoflagellates (cont) 2 Problems with Red Tides Produce toxins which may cause fish to die or accumulate in the tissues of resistant organisms which can result in paralytic shellfish poisoning which can be fatal to humans As the bloom dies and decomposes, the bacteria deplete the dissolved oxygen form the water causing fish to die

Phytoplankton (cont)

Dinoflagellates (cont) Some species produce light by Bioluminescence which

can be seen at night in the open ocean Some species celled zooanthellae live in symbiotic relationships with other marine organisms such as coral. They release organic matter used by the coral and help in the formation of the coral skeleton.

Phytoplankton (cont) Nanoplankton

Very small and hard to catch Still important in ocean primary production Two types Cyanobacteria Coccolithophorids

 Nanoplankton (cont)
Cyanobacteria

Phytoplankton (cont)
Kingdom Monera, therefore prokaryotic Contain chlorophyll (green pigment) and phycocyanin (blue pigment) Most are microscopic, but can form long visible strands or mats Likely the first photosynthetic organisms on Earth and contributed to the accumulation of oxygen in the atmosphere Can also carry out nitrogen fixation- converting atmospheric nitrogen gas to usable from alike ammonia

Phytoplankton (cont) Nanoplankton (cont)

Coccolithophorids
Covered with rounds calcium carbonate paltes

Zooplankton

Tiny planktonic animals A few species are a critical link in the food
web- they are herbivores, meaning they eat autotrophs Most are carnivorous and feed on the herbivorous zooplankton

 They are divided into two groups:

Holoplankton and Meroplankton
Holoplankton: spend their entire lives a plankton Copepods
Most abundant zooplankton (70% or more) and may be the most abundant animal on Earth The are crustaceans Most eat phytoplankton and zooplankton (use bristled antennae) Move fast to escape predators

Zooplankton (cont)

Zooplankton (cont)
Holoplankton (cont) Krill
Shrimp-like crustaceans Prefer colder waters Filter feeders, eat diatoms, detritus, and zooplankton

Zooplankton (cont)
Holoplankton (cont) Other holoplankton
Salps- related to sea squirts Larvaceans- also related to sea squirts and secrete a house of mucus Pteropods- small snail-like creatures with modified foot to make wing-like projections Arrow worms (chaetognaths)- feed on copepods

Zooplankton (cont)
Meroplankton: Only a portion of the lives are spent as plankton (larva of fish and invertebrates) Veligers- mollusks Ophiopluterus- brittle stars Bipinnaria- sea stars Trpchophore- polychaete worms and some mollusks Nauplius- crustaceans