Picoplankton
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Picoplankton is the fraction of plankton composed by cells between 0.2 and 2 μm that can be either :
- photosynthetic Main article: Photosynthetic picoplankton
- heterotrophic Main article: Heterotrophic picoplankton
Some species can also be mixotrophic. Picoplankton are responsible for the most primary productivity in oligotrophic gyres, and are distinguished from nanoplankton and microplankton.[1] Because they are small, they have a greater surface to volume ratio, enabling them to obtain the scarce nutrients in these ecosystems. Note that the SI prefix pico- is used quite loosely here, as nanoplankton and microplankton are only 10 and 100 times larger, respectively.
See also
Plankton#Size_groups.
References
- ↑ Alexander Vershinin. "Phytoplankton in the Black Sea". Russian Federal Children Center Orlyonok.
|
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike; additional terms may apply for the media files.