What can some phytoplankton produce?

What can some phytoplankton produce?

Certain species of phytoplankton produce powerful biotoxins, making them responsible for so-called “red tides,” or harmful algal blooms. These toxic blooms can kill marine life and people who eat contaminated seafood. Phytoplankton cause mass mortality in other ways.

What are 2 Functions of phytoplankton?

Through photosynthesis, phytoplankton use sunlight, nutrients, carbon dioxide, and water to produce oxygen and nutrients for other organisms. With 71% of the Earth covered by the ocean, phytoplankton are responsible for producing up to 50% of the oxygen we breathe.

In what ways are phytoplankton useful?

Phytoplankton are some of Earth’s most critical organisms and so it is vital study and understand them. They generate about half the atmosphere’s oxygen, as much per year as all land plants. Phytoplankton also form the base of virtually every ocean food web. In short, they make most other ocean life possible.

What is phytoplankton in the food chain?

The food web Phytoplankton are the foundation of the aquatic food web, the primary producers, feeding everything from microscopic, animal-like zooplankton to multi-ton whales. Small fish and invertebrates also graze on the plant-like organisms, and then those smaller animals are eaten by bigger ones.

What role do plankton have in the food web of the ocean?

Plankton play a key role in the oceanic food web Photosynthetic plankton members account for almost half of global primary production and 90% of primary production in marine ecosystems. They also provide the primary food source for zooplankton and together form the base of the oceanic food web.

What is a phytoplankton give its importance to animals?

Phytoplankton are the foundation of the aquatic food web, the primary producers, feeding everything from microscopic, animal-like zooplankton to multi-ton whales. Small fish and invertebrates also graze on the plant-like organisms, and then those smaller animals are eaten by bigger ones.

Do jellyfish eat zooplankton?

Jellyfish eat many different types of things, such as small plants (phytoplankton), copepods (crustacean zooplankton), fish eggs and other small fish called larvae; they also eat the planktonic eggs and young stages (also called larvae) of many different kinds of marine animals.