Plankton

Sheldon James Plankton

Jellies are plankton

• Shortcut to moonjellyfmoon_jellyfis

• Shortcut to thimblejelthimble_jelly

An Example of a net

Making a plankton net• Use a needlepoint hoop or other object to hold

net open on the wide end• Use a nylon stocking as the net. Fit it over the

hoop and secure in place• Cut the toe of the stocking and fit over a jar,

save the lid to return the water sample to the classroom

• Secure the jar to the stocking with a rubber band• Use 3 long pieces of string tied to the hoop so

you can drag it through the water

Plankton

• comes from the Greek word for "wandering." 

• diverse group of plants and animals that spend some or all of their life cycle drifting in the water of oceans or lakes.

• are generally unable to move independently of currents and waves.

Classification

Zooplankton

Animal or animal -like

Phytoplankton

plant or plantlike

Photosynthesize

PhytoplanktonPhytoplankton are the base of the ocean's food web and are the food source for

zooplankton. • are organisms that float on or near the surface of the water.• Most are rounded and single-celled.• All phytoplankton use photosynthesis for their energy• The most common phytoplankton are diatoms and dinoflagellates.

Diatoms – single-celled algae. – join together in long chains.

Dinoflagellates – small organisms with two tails or flagella. – all kinds of shapes and sizes.– Some have shells and some don't.– Not all dinoflagellates rely only on photosynthesis for all their energy. Some wrap themselves

around food and absorb it.– Some dinoflagellates can make light using bioluminescence.

Other types of phytoplanktonPhaeophyta (brown algae) Cyanobacteria (blue-green algae)

They photosynthesize, but some also use nitrogen for their energy. They are nitrogen fixers. They change free nitrogen into nitrates which are used by the cyanobacteria and by other plants in the ocean.

Zooplankton

• Zooplankton are – ocean animals that don't swim at all or are very weak

swimmers– they drift or move with ocean currents– They can be found in the sunlit zone and in deep ocean

waters– Zooplankton range in size from tiny microbes to jellyfish,

Zooplankton-Classification by life stage• Holoplankton

– planktonic their entire lives

• Meroplankton– spend only a part of their life cycle in the water column, usually

as a larval stage.

Local Invertebrate Groups in the Plankton

• http://depts.washington.edu/fhl/zoo432/plankton/plintroduction/plintroduction.htm#categories

• http://www.nhptv.org/natureworks/nwep6d.htm

Red tide

Just a little more information

• http://planetgreen.discovery.com/videos/blue-august-cracking-the-ocean-code-phytoplankton.html

• http://depts.washington.edu/fhl/zoo432/plankton/plintroduction/plintroduction.htm