Phytoplankton

microzooplankton feeding. Largely due to size differences, mesozooplankton (>140 μm) are important exporters of carbon and prey for larger organisms, while microzooplankton (100–140 μn) are important recyclers of nutrients, dominant grazers of phytoplankton, and key link in the microbial loop (Conroy et al., 2016; Uitto and Hallfors, 1996). Therefore, understanding this relationship between zooplankton and grazing will allow scientists to be able to understand the primary production and rate…

enhancing the growth of phytoplankton; which absorb nearly the same rate of carbon dioxide from the ocean and the atmosphere as land plants do. However, others argue that both of these can have severe consequences and possibly cause more harm. “Washing carbon out of the air” by Klaus Lackner is about machines that could help reduce and possibly…

What would happen if all of the marine life on Earth today were to go extinct? Would the loss affect humans at all? The answer to these questions, is yes, because the ocean provides 50% of our oxygen. Without saltwater animals, there would not be any underwater plants to provide this oxygen. Because humans are slowly destroying marine life, which is essential to all life on Earth, it is necessary to rescue, rehabilitate, and release marine animals. One of the main causes of death and…

The greatest human impact on the water quality of Barnegat Bay is irrigation. Irrigation occurs when water is added to land or crops in order to aid in growth. In the northern parts of the bay, where “peak nitrogen levels have been recorded”, many homeowners continually use lawn fertilizers which carry nutrients in the runoff produced (Seitzinger 6). In addition to being a problem in the northern Barnegat Bay area, in the past few years, “the pollution problem is now being magnified by increased…

they are small organisms that float in large numbers in either salt or fresh water. They belong to three groups called phytoplankton, zooplankton, and bacterioplankton. Plankton are a significant food source for blue whales, shrimp and jelly fish. Bioluminescent plankton belong to phytoplankton which use sunlight to make its own food, and zooplankton which feeds on phytoplankton and other small organisms. Bioluminescent plankton can be seen in oceans all around the world such as Maldives…

This eutrophication of Oso bay can make it easier for more pathogenic heterotrophic bacteria to outcompete the photoautotrophs such as phytoplankton. Which explains why Oso Bay has been found to contain high concentrations of pathogenic bacteria for which a total maximum daily load (TMDL) has been recommended. It also was found to have episodic low dissolved oxygen levels severe enough to have…

The definition of Symbiosis is "the living together in an intimate association of two or more dissimilar organisms". Symbiosis is a crucial part of our existence and a reason for the beginning of life on this planet we call home. According to history of our planet, Earth was formed from absolute nothingness to tiny molecules of thick water vapor and many compounds of nitrogen, carbon dioxide, ammonia, and more. From these molecules, the disorder and order of the molecule reacted with each other,…

editors,”The North Atlantic Ocean is considered a nitrogen (N) limited system once vernal stabilisation of the water column alleviates light limitation and allows phytoplankton growth to deplete surface nutrients to virtually undetectable levels. Ammonium and other regenerated N forms are then the main surface N source for phytoplankton production”(Life Science Weekly). Ammonium is produced during nitrogen fixation as the nitrogen is converted by prokaryote bacteria. Nitrites and nitrates are…

acterial carbon to protistan grazers, and a 7% decrease in macrozooplankton production" (7). Hence, marine viral activity moves more respiration and production away from the other heterotrophs and into the bacteria. Marine viruses also have an impact on the diversity observed in the bacterial community and the composition of the species in the ocean as they usually are highly specific for certain hosts. The impact of viruses on ocean biogeochemistry is often evoked purely through the act of…

outbreaks are not 100% certain but one of the most widely accepted hypothesis is that the outbreaks of COTS are caused and controlled mostly by the availability of phytoplankton. Phytoplankton are a necessary food source for COTS larvae to thrive so when nutrient enrichment from agricultural land runs-off it causes phytoplankton blooms and the immortality rate of COTS larvae…