Phytoplankton

Learn how phytoplankton supply oxygen via photosynthesis and serve as the first link in the marine food chainSee all videos for this article

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phytoplankton, a flora of freely floating, often minute organisms that drift with water currents. Like land vegetation, phytoplankton uses carbon dioxide, releases oxygen, and converts minerals to a form animals can use. In fresh water, large numbers of green algae often colour lakes and ponds, and cyanobacteria may affect the taste of drinking water.

Oceanic phytoplankton is the primary food source, directly or indirectly, of nearly all sea organisms. Composed of groups with siliceous skeletons, such as diatoms, dinoflagellates, and coccolithophores, phytoplankton varies seasonally in amount, increasing in spring and fall with favourable light, temperature, and minerals.

Phytoplankton populations in the oceans have been shown to rise and fall according to cycles lasting several years to decades. However, scientists examining records of phytoplankton kept from 1899 to 2008 noted that phytoplankton biomass fell by 1 percent per year in 8 of Earth’s 10 ocean basins, resulting in a cumulative loss of roughly 40 percent. Rising sea surface temperatures over the same period are thought to be the primary cause of this decline.