News tagged with plankton
Ocean microbe communities changing, but long-term environmental impact is unclear
As oceans warm due to climate change, water layers will mix less and affect the microbes and plankton that pump carbon out of the atmosphere – but researchers say it's still unclear whether these processes ...
Space & Earth / Earth Sciences
Feb 09, 2012 |
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Massive swarm of tunicates tilts ocean's chemical balance
A surge of nutrients to the warm waters off the southeastern coast of Australia during the highly productive austral spring can spark an explosion in the phytoplankton population. Where phytoplankton bloom, so do the predators ...
Space & Earth / Earth Sciences
Jan 31, 2012 |
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Massive volcanoes, meteorite impacts delivered one-two death punch to dinosaurs: study
(PhysOrg.com) -- A cosmic one-two punch of colossal volcanic eruptions and meteorite strikes likely caused the mass-extinction event at the end of the Cretaceous period that is famous for killing the dinosaurs ...
Space & Earth / Earth Sciences
Nov 17, 2011 |
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Simple nerve cells regulate swimming depth of marine plankton
As planktonic organisms the larvae of the marine annelid Platynereis swim freely in the open water. They move by activity of their cilia, thousands of tiny hair-like structures forming a band along the larval ...
Oct 18, 2011 |
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The Baltic Sea contributes carbon dioxide to the atmosphere
The Baltic Sea emits more carbon dioxide than it can bind. Local variations have increased the exposure of the Bay of Bothnia. These are the results from a study of how carbon dioxide flows between the water ...
Space & Earth / Earth Sciences
Oct 11, 2011 |
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Giant kraken lair discovered
Long before whales, the oceans of Earth were roamed by a very different kind of air-breathing leviathan. Snaggle-toothed ichthyosaurs larger than school buses swam at the top of the Triassic Period ocean food ...
Space & Earth / Earth Sciences
Oct 10, 2011 |
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Jellyfish replacing fish in over-exploited areas
(PhysOrg.com) -- Over-fished commercial stocks of plankton-eating fish have been replaced in several locations by jellyfish species. This appears to be something of a paradox because fish move quickly and ...
Sep 16, 2011 |
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Scientists pinpoint river flow associated with cholera outbreaks, not just global warming
An examination of the world's largest river basins found nutrient-rich and powerful river discharges led to spikes in the blooms of plankton associated with cholera outbreaks. These increased discharges often occur at times ...
Aug 04, 2011 |
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Study assesses nations' vulnerabilities to reduced mollusk harvests from ocean acidification
Changes in ocean chemistry due to increased carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions are expected to damage shellfish populations around the world, but some nations will feel the impacts much sooner and more intensely than others, ac ...
Aug 02, 2011 |
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Prodigal plankton species makes first known migration from Pacific to Atlantic via Pole
Some 800,000 years ago -- about the time early human tribes were learning to make fire – a tiny species of plankton called Neodenticula seminae went extinct in the North Atlantic.
Jun 26, 2011 |
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Fulbright scholar takes ecological theory to Andean heights
For 2011 Fulbright awardee James Elser, Argentina's soaring, glacier-laden peaks, ancient cultures, and criollo horses offer a spectacular backdrop for this region's biggest draw: access to the "last unpolluted ...
Jun 22, 2011 |
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Japan's tsunami debris set for 10-year Pacific tour
Debris sucked from the shoreline of Japan by the March 11 tsunami has embarked on a 10-year circuit of the North Pacific, posing an enduring threat to shipping and wildlife, a French green group says.
Jun 21, 2011 |
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Salt marsh sediments help gauge climate-change-induced sea level rise
A newly constructed, 2,000-year history of sea level elevations will help scientists refine the models used to predict climate-change-induced sea level rise, according to an international team of climate researchers. The ...
Space & Earth / Earth Sciences
Jun 20, 2011 |
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Mini-submarines to gauge Lake Geneva pollution
Two mini-submarines that have filmed the wreckage of the doomed luxury cruise liner Titanic will dive into Lake Geneva to gauge its pollution levels, Swiss researchers said Tuesday.
Jun 14, 2011 |
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'Explosive' evolution in pupfish
Two groups of small fish, one from a Caribbean island and one from the Yucatan peninsula of Mexico, exhibit some of the fastest rates of evolution known in any organism, according to a new UC Davis study.
Apr 27, 2011 |
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Plankton
Plankton (singular plankter) are any drifting organisms (animals, plants, archaea, or bacteria) that inhabit the pelagic zone of oceans, seas, or bodies of fresh water. That is, plankton are defined by their ecological niche rather than phylogenetic or taxonomic classification. They provide a crucial source of food to larger, more familiar aquatic organisms such as fish and whales.
Though many planktic (or planktonic—see section on Terminology) species are microscopic in size, plankton includes organisms covering a wide range of sizes, including large organisms such as jellyfish.
For more information about Plankton, read the full article at
Wikipedia.
This text uses material from Wikipedia and is available under the GNU Free Documentation License.
