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Phytoplankton are the base of the marine food web and because they do not rely on other organisms for food, they make up the first trophic level. Organisms such as zooplankton feed on these phytoplankton which are in turn fed on by other organisms and so forth until the fourth trophic level is reached with apex predators.
Around 70% of the oxygen in the atmosphere is produced in the oceans from phytoplankton performing photosynthesis, meaning that the majority of the oxygen available for us and other organisms that respire aerobically is produced by plankton. [71] Plankton also make up the base of the marine food web, providing food for all the trophic levels above.
The breakdown of phytoplankton in the environment depends on the presence of oxygen, and once oxygen is no longer in the bodies of water, ligninperoxidases cannot continue to break down the lignin. When oxygen is not present in the water, the time required for breakdown of phytoplankton changes from 10.7 days to a total of 160 days.
Sea water carries oxygen and nutrients to oceanic organisms, which allow them to be planktonic or settled. The dissolved minerals and oxygen flow with currents/circulations. Oceanic plants and animals easily capture what they need for their daily life, which make them 'lazy' and 'slow'. Sea water removes waste from animals and plants.
Microalgae, capable of performing photosynthesis, are important for life on earth; they produce approximately half of the atmospheric oxygen [2] and use the greenhouse gas carbon dioxide to grow photoautotrophically. "Marine photosynthesis is dominated by microalgae, which together with cyanobacteria, are collectively called phytoplankton."
It has been estimated that half of the world's oxygen is produced by phytoplankton. [ 7 ] [ 8 ] Larger autotrophs, such as the seagrasses and macroalgae ( seaweeds ) are generally confined to the littoral zone and adjacent shallow waters, where they can attach to the underlying substrate but still be within the photic zone .
Ancestors of Prochlorococcus contributed to the production of early atmospheric oxygen. [26] Despite Prochlorococcus being one of the smallest types of marine phytoplankton in the world's oceans, its substantial number make it responsible for a major part of the oceans', world's photosynthesis, and oxygen production. [ 2 ]
Sea slugs respire through a gill (or ctenidium). Aquatic respiration is the process whereby an aquatic organism exchanges respiratory gases with water, obtaining oxygen from oxygen dissolved in water and excreting carbon dioxide and some other metabolic waste products into the water.