Plankton

plankton, marine and freshwater organisms that, because they are nonmotile or too small or weak to swim against the current, exist in a drifting state. The term plankton is a collective name for all such organisms—including certain algae, bacteria, protozoans, crustaceans, mollusks, and coelenterates, as well as representatives from almost every other phylum of animals. Plankton is distinguished from nekton, which is composed of strong-swimming animals, and from benthos, which includes sessile, creeping, and burrowing organisms on the seafloor. Large floating seaweeds (for example, Sargassum, which constitutes the Sargasso Sea) and various related multicellular algae are not considered plankton but pleuston. Pleuston are forms of life that live at the interface of air and water. Organisms resting or swimming on the surface film of the water are called neuston (e.g., the alga Ochromonas).

Plankton is the productive base of both marine and freshwater ecosystems, providing food for larger animals and indirectly for humans, whose fisheries depend upon plankton. As a human resource, plankton has only begun to be developed and exploited, in view of its high biological productivity and wide extent. It has been demonstrated on several occasions that large-scale cultures of algae are technically feasible. The unicellular green alga Chlorella has been used particularly in this connection. Through ample culture conditions, production is directed toward protein content greater than 50 percent. Although this protein has a suitable balance of essential amino acids, its low degree of digestibility prevents practical use. Phytoplankton may become increasingly important in space travel as a source for food and for gas exchange. The carbon dioxide released during respiration of spacecraft personnel would be transformed into organic substances by the algae, while the oxygen liberated during this process would support human respiration.