zooplankton

zooplankton: see marine biology.

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zooplankton

Small floating or weakly swimming animals that drift with water currents and, with phytoplankton, make up the planktonic food supply on which almost all oceanic organisms ultimately depend (see plankton). Included are many animals, from single-celled radiolarians to the eggs or larvae of herrings, crabs, and lobsters. Permanent plankton (holoplankton), such as protozoans and copepods, spend their lives as plankton. Temporary plankton (meroplankton), such as young starfish, clams, worms, and other bottom-dwelling animals, live and feed as plankton until they become adults.

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zooplankton [¦zō·ə′plaŋk·tən]

(ecology)

Microscopic animals which move passively in aquatic ecosystems.

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Zooplankton

Animals that inhabit the water column of oceans and lakes and lack the means to counteract transport currents. Zooplankton inhabit all layers of these water bodies to the greatest depths sampled, and constitute a major link between primary production and higher trophic levels in aquatic ecosystems. Many zooplankton are capable of strong swimming movements and may migrate vertically from tens to hundreds of meters; others have limited mobility and depend more on water turbulence to stay afloat. All zooplankton, however, lack the ability to maintain their position against the movement of large water masses.

Zooplankton can be divided into various operational categories. One means of classification is based on developmental stages and divides animals into meroplankton and holoplankton. Meroplanktonic forms spend only part of their life cycles as plankton and include larvae of benthic worms, mollusks, crustaceans, echinoderms, coral, and even insects, as well as the eggs and larvae of many fishes. Holoplankton spend essentially their whole existence in the water column. Examples are chaetognaths, pteropods, larvaceans, siphonophores, and many copepods. Nearly every major taxonomic group of animals has either meroplanktonic or holoplanktonic members.

Size is another basis of grouping all plankton. A commonly accepted size classification scheme includes the groupings: picoplankton (<2 micrometers), nanoplankton (2– 20 μm), microplankton (20–200 μm), mesoplankton (0.2–20 mm), macroplankton (20–200 mm), and megaplankton (>200 mm).

The classic description of the trophic dynamics of plankton is a food chain consisting of algae grazed by crustacean zooplankton which are in turn ingested by fishes. This model may hold true to a degree in some environments such as upwelling areas, but it masks the complexity of most natural food webs. Zooplankton have an essential role in linking trophic levels, but several intermediate zooplankton consumers can exist between the primary producers (phytoplankton) and fish. Thus, food webs with multiple links to different organisms indicate the versatility of food choice and energy transfer and are a more realistic description of the planktonic trophic interactions.

Size is of major importance in planktonic food webs. Most zooplankton tend to feed on organisms that have a body size smaller than their own. However, factors other than size also modify feeding interactions. Some phytoplankton are noxious and are avoided by zooplankton, and others are ingested but not digested. Furthermore, zooplankton frequently assume different feeding habits as they grow from larval to adult form. They may ingest bacteria or phytoplankton at one stage of their life cycle and become raptorial feeders later. Other zooplankton are primarily herbivorous but also ingest heterotrophic protists and can opportunistically become carnivorous. Consequently, omnivory, which is considered rare in terrestrial systems, is a relatively common trophic strategy in the plankton. In all food webs, some individuals die without being consumed and are utilized by scavengers and ultimately by decomposers (bacteria and fungi). See Ecology, Ecosystem, Marine ecology, Phytoplankton