Phytoplankton Food Chain In The Ocean

Food chainsor food websof lakes and other freshwaters also depend on phytoplankton for their food.

Phytoplankton food chain in the ocean. A Three Step Food Chain. Phytoplankton are the marine plants that grow most in the sunlit surface ocean. An increase in the proportion of primary production by nano- and picophytoplankton has qualitative as well as quantitative consequences for future food production from the oceans since this is where the biosynthesis of important components.

Countless billions of one-celled organisms called phytoplankton saturate sunlit upper-ocean waters worldwide. Microscopic marine algae which form the basis of the ocean food chain. These small plants are considered very important for the ocean and to the earth as they are a very basic and crucial factor of the food chain.

They are the base of a food chain that includes tiny animals and various other organisms that depend on phytoplankton for food. They usually range in diameter from 006 mm to 3 mm. Also some types of algae seaweed unicellular plants bacteria etc.

Similarly when there are not enough phytoplankton to make food or if the wrong types of phytoplankton grow the food chain of the sea can collapse turning the ocean into a watery desert wasteland. The phytoplankton is the main producer of the ocean food chain. Like land plants they take up carbon dioxide make carbohydrates using light energy and release oxygen.

In a balanced ecosystem they provide food for a wide range of sea creatures. Are the producers of the ocean food chain. These tiny plants and bacteria capture the suns energy and through photosynthesis convert nutrients and carbon dioxide into organic compounds.

A food web is a system of interconnected food chains. Larger and larger zooplankton fish and mammals depend on these plankton. Phytoplankton Food Chain In The Ocean.