Plankton can be defined as any organism(s) at the mercy of the tides or currents. Most plankton are quite small, often so tiny that they are microscopic. The majority of life in the sea somehow depends on plankton. They may be tiny, but there are trillions of them; and they power elaborate marine food webs. Although plant plankton (phytoplankton) are considered the "bottom" of the food chain, they hang out at or near the top of the ocean in a position to gather sunlight for photosynthesis. Without the broad base of phytoplankton that converts sunlight, carbon dioxide and minerals into plant material (just like plants on land), there would be nothing for the hungry organism next in line on the food chain.
Animal plankton (zooplankton), which eat the phytoplankton, can be the larval stages of the very fish and invertebrates we eat. Crab, shrimp and clams all begin their life floating as plankton near the surface of the ocean, ingesting tiny phytoplankton such as diatoms and dinoflagellates. The larval zooplankton, in turn, are food for young halibut and salmon that we catch for our dinner tables.
The living ocean works in ways similar to our terrestrial grazing lands, where vascular plants (the land's primary producers) provide sustenance for grazers such as beef and moose, which then serve as food for us. At sea, phytoplankton (the ocean's primary producers) form the base of remarkable food chains to which both terrestrial and aquatic animals, including us, belong.
To learn more about the Kachemak Bay Research Reserve, please visit www.kbayrr.org.
Catie Bursch is a marine educator and artist at the Kachemak Bay Research Reserve. She currently is collecting information on local plankton and creating illustrations for a guide to commonly found plankton of Kachemak Bay.
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