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About the Phytoplankton
| What are Phytoplankton? | Interesting Facts | Grammar Guide |
What are Phytoplankton?
Phytoplankton are a polyphyletic group of unicellular, aquatic, microscopic algae. Many drift continuously in surface currents, though some have a benthic lifestyle. Phytoplankton are typically photoautotrophic and can be prokaryotic, eukaryotic, and even mesokaryotic. They are the primary producers of aquatic systems (including freshwater, brackish, & marine), and provide sustenance, directly or indirectly, for nearly all aquatic life.
Dictionaries and encyclopedias may mistakenly define phytoplankton as plants.
Interesting Facts
- The term 'phytoplankton' was coined in the year 1897.
- Phytoplankton account for less than 1% of Earth's photosynthetic biomass, yet are responsible for more than 45% of Earth's annual net primary production.
- Numerically, the vast majority of oceanic phytoplankton is prokaryotic cyanobacteria.
- Although numerically inferior in abundance, eukaryotic phytoplankters are responsible for the majority of the flux of organics to higher trophic levels and the ocean interior. Aquatic ecosystems are therefore critically dependent on eukaryotic phytoplankton.
- Cyanobacteria are the only extant prokaryotic oxygenic photoautotrophs.
- Macrophytes (which are the seaweeds, not phytoplankton) account for less than 4% of Earth's primary productivity, making them insignificant in terms of production compared to the phytoplankton.
- Oxygenic photosynthesis (to the best of our knowledge) evolved only once in cyanobacteria. Eukaryotes with mitochondria gained the ability to photosynthesize via endosymbiosis of these cyanobacteria over 1.5 billion years ago in the Proterozoic oceans. Gene loss of the engulfed cyanbacterium over time caused it to become a membrane-bound plastid within the eukaryote.
- Some phytoplankton (i.e. Noctiluca scintillans) have lost their chloroplasts and can no longer photosynthesize. They are instead heterotrophic.
Sources:
Science 16 July 2004: Vol. 305. no. 5682, pp. 354 - 360 DOI: 10.1126/science.1095964
PNAS September 18, 2007 vol. 104 no. 38 15099-15104
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Grammar and Pronunciation Guide
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- Phytoplankton