primary producers and marine animals

phytoplankton

minute, drifting photosynthetic organisms

responsible for producing between 90% and 96% of the surface ocean’s carbohydrates

seaweeds

larger marine photosynthesizers

contribute from 1% to 5% of the ocean’s primary productivity

chemosynthetic organisms

account for between 2% and 5% of the total productivity in the water column

primary productivity

gC/m² per year

source of carbon for glucose

dissolved carbon dioxide

10

total mass of primary producer is assumed to be ___ times the mass of the carbon it has bound into carbohydrates

30-50 billion metric tons

carbons bound in carbohydrates per year

1-2 billion metric tons

total producer biomass

planktoes

Greek word that means “wandering”

term plankton or nekton describes:

common ecological connection - a lifestyle

plankters

members of the plankton community

zooplankton

heterotrophic plankton

German Atlantic Oceanographic Expedition of 1925

first large-scale systematic study of plankton aboard reseach vessel Meteor

Plankton Nets

customarily made of nylon or Dacron cloth

7 categories

Scheme of classification of the range of planktons, roughly an order of magnitudes e (10 times) larger or smaller than the next

Phytoplankton

autotrophic plankton, generate glucose by photosynthesis

primary producers in the oceans

phyton - meaning plant

drift within the euphotic zone

major types of phyotplankton

diatoms, dinoflagellates, cyanobacteria, archaea

microbial loop

facilitates the recycling of nutrients and energy at a microscopic scale.

It enhances the productivity of the ocean and operates separately from the larger, more visible food chain

diatoms

due to their abundance and eficiency in photosynthesis, they contributed to the increase of free oxygen levels in Earth’s atmosphere

diatoms shape

can be round, elongated, branched, or triangular