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Phytoplankton (/ ˌ f aɪ t oʊ ˈ p l æ ŋ k t ə n /) are the autotrophic (self-feeding) components of the plankton community and a key part of ocean and freshwater ecosystems.The name comes from the Greek words φυτόν (phyton), meaning 'plant', and πλαγκτός (planktos), meaning 'wanderer' or 'drifter'.
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 ]
[64] [65] Reactive oxygen species are especially inexpensive to produce as defense chemicals, simply because they are not composed of metabolically costly elements such as carbon, nitrogen, or phosphate. Reactive oxygen species produced by phytoplankton have been linked to deaths of fish, shellfish, and protists, as well as shown to reduce the ...
Phytoplankton absorb energy from the Sun and nutrients from the water to produce their own nourishment or energy. In the process of photosynthesis, phytoplankton release molecular oxygen (O 2) into the water as a waste byproduct. It is estimated that about 50% of the world's oxygen is produced via phytoplankton photosynthesis. [61]
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 .
Photosynthetic organisms such as plants, plankton and algae use sunlight to produce oxygen that cycles into the ocean depths, but previous studies conducted in the deep sea have shown that oxygen ...
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."
The ocean produces about half of the world's oxygen and stores 50 times more carbon dioxide than the atmosphere. [17] Prochlorococcus, an influential bacterium which produces much of the world's oxygen. Among the phytoplankton are members from a phylum of bacteria called cyanobacteria. Marine cyanobacteria include the smallest known ...