Question

What are planktons? Where is it located?

Answer 1

Plankton are drifting organisms that inhabit the water column of oceans, seas, and bodies of fresh water.

Plankton abundance and distribution are strongly dependent on factors such as ambient nutrients concentrations, the physical state of the water column, and the abundance of other plankton.

Plankton can be divided into three functional groups:

• phytoplankton,
• zooplankton
• bacterioplankton.

Phytoplankton are autotrophic prokaryotic or eukaryotic algae that live near the water surface where there is sufficient light to support photosynthesis.

Among the more important groups are the diatoms, cyanobacteria and dinoflagellates.

Zooplankton are small protozoans or metazoans (e.g. crustaceans and other animals) that feed on other plankton.

Some of the eggs and larvae of larger animals, such as fish, crustaceans, and annelids, are included here.

Bacterioplankton are bacteria and archaea, which play an important role in remineralising organic material down the water column (note that many phytoplankton are also bacterioplankton).

Plankton are found throughout the oceans, seas and lakes of Earth.

However, the local abundance of plankton varies horizontally, vertically and seasonally.