![]() In tropical regions, there is plenty of sunlight but productivity is limited by nutrients trapped beneath the thermocline In polar regions, there are plenty of nutrients, but sunlight (and sinking out of the photic zone via mixing) limits productivity In temperate regions, the combination of sunlight and nutrients is just right, but only seasonally!ġ2 Primary Productivity in Temperate Regions Gelatinous zooplankton, for example)Ħ Phytoplankton Phytoplankton are responsible for 40% of all the world’s photosynthetic food on Earth (and 95% of all the ocean’s!) Provide ~one half of all the oxygen we breathe! Collectively, the production of organic compounds from CO2 is referred to as primary productivityħ Phytoplankton Phytoplankton require nutrients, especially nitrogen and phosphorus (macronutrients) but also iron (micronutrients) For this reason, phytoplankton appear in abundance (“blooms”) in regions of upwelling, where cold, nutrient-rich water reaches the photic zone holoplankton) By Taxonomy (Crustaceous vs. ![]() heterotrophic) By Life History (meroplankton vs. Photos By: Pedro Szekely (CC BY-SA 2.0), Yogendra Joshi (CC BY 2.1 Plankton Marine life is classified into three groups: Plankton, Nekton, and Benthos Plankton Nekton BenthosĢ Plankton Plankton refers to the drifting organisms within the pelagic zone Phytoplankton are autotrophic, photosynthetic algae, which form the base of the marine food web Zooplankton are heterotrophic the primary (and in some cases secondary and tertiary) consumers of the marine food webģ Plankton form the base of the marine food webīy Metabolism (autotrophic vs. ![]() Jellyfissh plankton nekton or benthos free#However, all the nekton are free living animals.
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