Algae Phytoplankton Food Chain

And even when ingested they are poorly utilized.

Algae phytoplankton food chain. One of the reasons suggested to explain the dominance of blue greens in eutrophic lakes is that they are not used as food by zooplankton. The food chain is organized into trophic levels and the base trophic level or bottom rung of this system contains organisms that make their own food. In a study conducted by nccr scientists it was examined how climate driven upwelling could affect the marine ecosystem and fisheries due to harmful algal blooms. Small fish crustaceans and zooplankton are the next level up and they feed on the phytoplankton.

Photo just refers to light and so is more general and can be used to describe any. This constant reduction of arsenate is mainly responsible for the measurable quantities of arsenite in the water column in spite of the thermodynamic instability of arsenite. Phytoplankton are at the base of the food chain. Most freshwater phytoplankton are made up of green algae and cyanobacteria also known as blue green algae 13.

But not all phytoplankton are algae. The earth is warming up rapidly due to climate change which is altering the ecosystems both on land and at sea which we depend on for our food source. Phytoplankton both algae and cyanobacteria can be found in fresh or saltwater 13. Food chains are nature s way of transferring energy between different species.

This is because the bacteria and algae that float in oceans and lakes and do photosynthesis are no longer considered to be plants by most scientists. In the oceans phytoplankton and algae form the lowest trophic level. These single celled photosynthetic organisms can be put into aquariums as fresh fish food. But as the energy moves up the food chain from phytoplankton to animal to animal there is less and less of it available for animals to use.

An increase in herbivores might be the expected result of biomanipulation of the aquatic food chain. In this respect a series of in lake experimental results indicates that. All algae is phytoplankton. The marine environment rich in phytoplankton exhibits a high percentage of arsenite and.

Phytoplankton are free floating photosynthetic microorganisms found in lakes streams oceans. Without it over time marine life would cease to exist. The present study gives further insight into algal preferences of crustaceans and some general conclusions can be drawn regarding seasonal shifts in phytoplankton support of the grazing food chain in a temperate eutrophic lake. There are a few different kinds such as diatoms dinoflagellates and cyanobacteria.

Phytoplankton the most common primary producer in the marine food chain take up arsenate from the surrounding sea water and reduces it to arsenite 79 which is readily oxidized to arsenate in oxic marine waters on excretion 59. The chain continues upward with larger fish and ocean mammals eating the smaller. They are small microscopic plants that live in the ocean. Because of their predominance in the oceans they are the world s biggest carbon sink.

Algae doesn t differ from phytoplankton. They include algae cyanobacteria protists diatoms. As they need light to photosynthesize phytoplankton in any environment will float near the top of the water where sunlight reaches 10. This attempt at controlling the algae population is however destined to fail if zooplankton do not also utilize blue greens as food.