All about Plankton. Phytoplankton Microscopic plants that drift in the upper waters of the oceans...
-
Upload
amanda-webster -
Category
Documents
-
view
215 -
download
2
Transcript of All about Plankton. Phytoplankton Microscopic plants that drift in the upper waters of the oceans...
![Page 1: All about Plankton. Phytoplankton Microscopic plants that drift in the upper waters of the oceans Use sunlight to produce their own food through the process.](https://reader036.fdocuments.us/reader036/viewer/2022081519/56649ee15503460f94bf1d7a/html5/thumbnails/1.jpg)
•All about Plankton
![Page 2: All about Plankton. Phytoplankton Microscopic plants that drift in the upper waters of the oceans Use sunlight to produce their own food through the process.](https://reader036.fdocuments.us/reader036/viewer/2022081519/56649ee15503460f94bf1d7a/html5/thumbnails/2.jpg)
Phytoplankton
• Microscopic plants that drift in the upper waters of the oceans
• Use sunlight to produce their own food through the process of photosynthesis:
CO2 + H2O C6H12O6 + O2
Carbon dioxide + water sugar + oxygen
![Page 3: All about Plankton. Phytoplankton Microscopic plants that drift in the upper waters of the oceans Use sunlight to produce their own food through the process.](https://reader036.fdocuments.us/reader036/viewer/2022081519/56649ee15503460f94bf1d7a/html5/thumbnails/3.jpg)
Phytoplankton, cont’d
• Are critical to all life on earth because they are the basis of food webs and generate most of the atmospheric O2
• When conditions are right (i.e., sufficient nutrients) they are capable of blooms – very rapid growth in numbers
• Are collected in funnel-shaped plankton nets towed behind research vessels
![Page 4: All about Plankton. Phytoplankton Microscopic plants that drift in the upper waters of the oceans Use sunlight to produce their own food through the process.](https://reader036.fdocuments.us/reader036/viewer/2022081519/56649ee15503460f94bf1d7a/html5/thumbnails/4.jpg)
Plankton Nets
![Page 5: All about Plankton. Phytoplankton Microscopic plants that drift in the upper waters of the oceans Use sunlight to produce their own food through the process.](https://reader036.fdocuments.us/reader036/viewer/2022081519/56649ee15503460f94bf1d7a/html5/thumbnails/5.jpg)
Just how tiny can they be?
• Femtoplankton- little known group, viroplankton fall here
Piccoplankton 0 - 0.002 mm Ultraplankton 0.002 - 0.0055 mm Nannoplankton 0.005 - 0.06 mm Microplankton 0.06 - 0.5 mm Mesoplankton 0.5 - 1.0 mm Macroplankton 1.0 mm - 1.0 cm Megaloplankton greater than 1.0 cm
The last 4 groups are called net plankton as they can be caught with plankton nets. The first 3 groups are obtained through centrifugation, filtering, or settling of samples.
![Page 6: All about Plankton. Phytoplankton Microscopic plants that drift in the upper waters of the oceans Use sunlight to produce their own food through the process.](https://reader036.fdocuments.us/reader036/viewer/2022081519/56649ee15503460f94bf1d7a/html5/thumbnails/6.jpg)
Types of Phytoplankton
There are 3 main types:1. Diatoms
2. Dinoflagellates
3. Coccolithophores
![Page 7: All about Plankton. Phytoplankton Microscopic plants that drift in the upper waters of the oceans Use sunlight to produce their own food through the process.](https://reader036.fdocuments.us/reader036/viewer/2022081519/56649ee15503460f94bf1d7a/html5/thumbnails/7.jpg)
![Page 8: All about Plankton. Phytoplankton Microscopic plants that drift in the upper waters of the oceans Use sunlight to produce their own food through the process.](https://reader036.fdocuments.us/reader036/viewer/2022081519/56649ee15503460f94bf1d7a/html5/thumbnails/8.jpg)
Diatoms
• Are the most dominant and productive phytoplankton
• Have beautifully ornate shells made of silica; unique to each species of diatom
• Used in silver polish, toothpaste, and for filtering beers, wines, and juices
![Page 9: All about Plankton. Phytoplankton Microscopic plants that drift in the upper waters of the oceans Use sunlight to produce their own food through the process.](https://reader036.fdocuments.us/reader036/viewer/2022081519/56649ee15503460f94bf1d7a/html5/thumbnails/9.jpg)
Although thousands of species exist, diatoms are usually divided in two groups: the pennates (pen-shaped) or the centric (rounded)
NitzschiaCyclotella
Centric Pennate
© Canadian Museum of Nature
![Page 10: All about Plankton. Phytoplankton Microscopic plants that drift in the upper waters of the oceans Use sunlight to produce their own food through the process.](https://reader036.fdocuments.us/reader036/viewer/2022081519/56649ee15503460f94bf1d7a/html5/thumbnails/10.jpg)
Diatoms
![Page 11: All about Plankton. Phytoplankton Microscopic plants that drift in the upper waters of the oceans Use sunlight to produce their own food through the process.](https://reader036.fdocuments.us/reader036/viewer/2022081519/56649ee15503460f94bf1d7a/html5/thumbnails/11.jpg)
A Diatom by Any Other Name…• There may be up to 100,000 different species of diatoms
(15,000 have been identified so far).• Each species requires certain ecological conditions in
order to survive
Chemical Physical
•Nutrients•pH•Salinity
•Temperature•Light
![Page 12: All about Plankton. Phytoplankton Microscopic plants that drift in the upper waters of the oceans Use sunlight to produce their own food through the process.](https://reader036.fdocuments.us/reader036/viewer/2022081519/56649ee15503460f94bf1d7a/html5/thumbnails/12.jpg)
Who Touched the Thermostat?
• Because of their ecological eccentricities, and the fact that their glass shells remain long after they die, diatoms can provide scientists with a stunning insight into the environments and climates of the past!
• By dating a soil sample and studying its diatom fossil content (number and type), we can estimate the climate of a given period.
![Page 13: All about Plankton. Phytoplankton Microscopic plants that drift in the upper waters of the oceans Use sunlight to produce their own food through the process.](https://reader036.fdocuments.us/reader036/viewer/2022081519/56649ee15503460f94bf1d7a/html5/thumbnails/13.jpg)
Where and How to Core?
Boothia Peninsula
Lake JR01
Iqaluit
![Page 14: All about Plankton. Phytoplankton Microscopic plants that drift in the upper waters of the oceans Use sunlight to produce their own food through the process.](https://reader036.fdocuments.us/reader036/viewer/2022081519/56649ee15503460f94bf1d7a/html5/thumbnails/14.jpg)
Coring a Core…
© Canadian Museum of Nature
![Page 15: All about Plankton. Phytoplankton Microscopic plants that drift in the upper waters of the oceans Use sunlight to produce their own food through the process.](https://reader036.fdocuments.us/reader036/viewer/2022081519/56649ee15503460f94bf1d7a/html5/thumbnails/15.jpg)
Dinoflagellates
• Most have 2 flagella (whips)• Some are capable of bioluminescence
(producing light)• Some cause “red tide” – they bloom so
extensively that the water looks red• Some release a neurotoxin that is stored in
certain shellfish and causes Paralytic Shellfish Poisoning (PSP) in humans when shellfish are eaten
![Page 17: All about Plankton. Phytoplankton Microscopic plants that drift in the upper waters of the oceans Use sunlight to produce their own food through the process.](https://reader036.fdocuments.us/reader036/viewer/2022081519/56649ee15503460f94bf1d7a/html5/thumbnails/17.jpg)
Bioluminescence
![Page 18: All about Plankton. Phytoplankton Microscopic plants that drift in the upper waters of the oceans Use sunlight to produce their own food through the process.](https://reader036.fdocuments.us/reader036/viewer/2022081519/56649ee15503460f94bf1d7a/html5/thumbnails/18.jpg)
Bioluminescence
![Page 19: All about Plankton. Phytoplankton Microscopic plants that drift in the upper waters of the oceans Use sunlight to produce their own food through the process.](https://reader036.fdocuments.us/reader036/viewer/2022081519/56649ee15503460f94bf1d7a/html5/thumbnails/19.jpg)
Coccolithophores
• Are covered with discs made of calcium carbonate (CaCO3)
• White Cliffs of Dover are fossilized coccolith deposits – allowed the British to make many strategic tunnels during WWII
• Can thrive in nutrient-poor waters where other phytoplankton cannot survive
![Page 20: All about Plankton. Phytoplankton Microscopic plants that drift in the upper waters of the oceans Use sunlight to produce their own food through the process.](https://reader036.fdocuments.us/reader036/viewer/2022081519/56649ee15503460f94bf1d7a/html5/thumbnails/20.jpg)
Photos of Coccolithophores
![Page 21: All about Plankton. Phytoplankton Microscopic plants that drift in the upper waters of the oceans Use sunlight to produce their own food through the process.](https://reader036.fdocuments.us/reader036/viewer/2022081519/56649ee15503460f94bf1d7a/html5/thumbnails/21.jpg)
Remember
More diverse and abundant =
Warmer
Less diverse and scarcer =
Colder
![Page 22: All about Plankton. Phytoplankton Microscopic plants that drift in the upper waters of the oceans Use sunlight to produce their own food through the process.](https://reader036.fdocuments.us/reader036/viewer/2022081519/56649ee15503460f94bf1d7a/html5/thumbnails/22.jpg)
Zooplankton
• Microscopic (not all) animals that feed on diatoms, dinoflagellates, and other phytoplankton or on other zooplankton
• Some members remain as zooplankton their whole life (copepods, krill, etc.) while others are just in their juvenile stage (crabs, sea stars, barnacles, lobsters, etc.)
![Page 24: All about Plankton. Phytoplankton Microscopic plants that drift in the upper waters of the oceans Use sunlight to produce their own food through the process.](https://reader036.fdocuments.us/reader036/viewer/2022081519/56649ee15503460f94bf1d7a/html5/thumbnails/24.jpg)
Zooplankton, cont’d
• Copepods make up more than 70% of the zooplankton
• Krill are shrimp-like creatures about the size of your thumb yet have the largest biomass of any species on earth!
• Krill are eaten in tremendous numbers by some of the largest marine animals (whale sharks and baleen whales)
![Page 25: All about Plankton. Phytoplankton Microscopic plants that drift in the upper waters of the oceans Use sunlight to produce their own food through the process.](https://reader036.fdocuments.us/reader036/viewer/2022081519/56649ee15503460f94bf1d7a/html5/thumbnails/25.jpg)
Photos of Copepods
![Page 26: All about Plankton. Phytoplankton Microscopic plants that drift in the upper waters of the oceans Use sunlight to produce their own food through the process.](https://reader036.fdocuments.us/reader036/viewer/2022081519/56649ee15503460f94bf1d7a/html5/thumbnails/26.jpg)
Photos of Krill
![Page 27: All about Plankton. Phytoplankton Microscopic plants that drift in the upper waters of the oceans Use sunlight to produce their own food through the process.](https://reader036.fdocuments.us/reader036/viewer/2022081519/56649ee15503460f94bf1d7a/html5/thumbnails/27.jpg)
Humpack Whales Feeding
on Krill
![Page 28: All about Plankton. Phytoplankton Microscopic plants that drift in the upper waters of the oceans Use sunlight to produce their own food through the process.](https://reader036.fdocuments.us/reader036/viewer/2022081519/56649ee15503460f94bf1d7a/html5/thumbnails/28.jpg)
Adaptations of Plankton
• Plankton cannot swim against an ocean current, yet it is important for each type of plankton to remain in the upper part of the water column
• Their small size (microscopic) allow them to float and resist sinking
![Page 29: All about Plankton. Phytoplankton Microscopic plants that drift in the upper waters of the oceans Use sunlight to produce their own food through the process.](https://reader036.fdocuments.us/reader036/viewer/2022081519/56649ee15503460f94bf1d7a/html5/thumbnails/29.jpg)
Adaptations of Plankton, cont’d
• Phytoplankton must remain in the upper part of the water so that they have access to sunlight so that they can photosynthesize
• Zooplankton must remain in the upper water column because that’s where their food is - the phytoplankton