Download Zooplankton (Consumers)

Plankton
The Drifters
Two kinds of plankton
 Phytoplankton (Producers)
 Photosynthesis (Autotrophs)
 1/2 of world’s primary production and
oxygen
 Zooplankton (Consumers)
 Link to rest of food web
 Herbivores and carnivores
Where?
 Euphotic zone in neritic and oceanic waters
 Most abundant in temperate and subpolar
seas Why?
 Supplies food to organisms below
3 Types of Phytoplankton
 Diatoms
 Dinoflagellates
 Coccolithophorids
Diatoms
Diatoms
 Most important primary producers in
temperate and polar regions
 With lots of nutrients and warm temp. get
blooms in spring (rapid reproduction)
Diatoms-Structure
 Cells with a silica
shell (glass) called
frustule
 2 halves like a petri
dish with nucleus and
chloroplasts inside
Diatom Reproduction
 Cell division
(Asexual)
 Split and each half
grows new shell
 (Sometimes do sexual
reproduction)
Dead Diatoms
 Sink and make sand!
 6 millions pounds
refined everyday from
beaches
 Used in paints, extend
life of tires and shoes
 Toothpaste,kitty litter
Diatoms Can’t Swim!
 To stay afloat:
 Increase surface area and drag
 (Be flat, Long spines, or form chains)
 Store lipids (oil) to be less dense than water
Dinoflagellates
 Prefer warmer waters
 Can swim up and down in water column
Dinoflagellate- Structure
 2 unequal flagella
 One wrapped around
middle (belt)
 One for movement
 Cell wall with plates of
cellulose
Dinoflagellates Reproduction
 Cell Division, very rarely sexual
reproduction
Dinoflagellates- Red Tide
Dinoflagellates Red Tide
 Massive blooms (thousand cells in one drop
of water!)
 Water turns orange or red-brown
 Produce poisons
 Kills fish, stored in mussels and clam tissue
 Eat clams get Paralytic Shellfish Poisoning
Dinoflagellates Bioluminescence
Dinoflagellates Bioluminescence
 Produce light
 Bright if disturbed by boat or wave crashing
Coccolithophorids
 Oceanic (not neritic)
 Prefer warm water
Coccolithophorid “Round stone
bearers”
Coccolithophorid Bloom
Coccolithophorid Structure
 Flagellates
 Spherical, covered with button-like
stuctures called coccoliths made of calcium
carbonate
Dead coccolithophorids
 Settle to ocean floor
 Thick deposits of Chalk!
 White cliffs of Dover in Southern England
White Cliffs of Dover
Zooplankton
 Eat ??
 Link to rest of food chain
Zooplankton - Crustaceans
 Arthropods (exoskeleton, jointed
appendages
 Shrimps, Crabs, Lobsters
Crustaceans - Copepods
Crustaceans - Copepods
 Most abundant
zooplankton
 Use mouthparts to
draw in water with
food (phyto- and
zooplankton -other
copepods too)
 Use 1st pair of
antennae to swim
Crustaceans - Krill
 Shrimp-like, up to 6
cm long
 Prefer cold oceanic
water
 Filter feeders - eat
phytos, fecal pellets,
other zooplankton
 Favorite food:
Diatoms
Krill
Crustacean - Larvae
 Crabs, shrimp, barnacles, lobsters
 Temporary zooplankton
Crustaceans - Amphipods
 Small, like copepods
Arrowworm
 Eat prey as large or
larger than themselves
 Eat copepods
Jellyfish and Combjellies
 Weak swimmers
 Can be large and drift with currents
 Eat small fish and zooplankton