Plankton Vocabulary

1. A bloom of harmful, often toxic, phytoplankton that can lead to the discoloration of water.
3. A type of phytoplankton with a silica-based cell wall, often shaped like a glass shell.
6. Extremely small-sized plankton, smaller than microplankton
8. Pertaining to the bottom of a body of water; organisms living on or in the substrate.
14. Larger-sized plankton, visible under a microscope
15. Organisms that obtain their energy by consuming other organisms.
16. Small animals that feed on phytoplankton or other zooplankton
18. Small crustaceans that are a common type of zooplankton.
20. Microscopic, photosynthetic organisms that form the base of the aquatic food chain.

2. Unicellular algae that can be both phytoplankton and sometimes bioluminescent.
4. The position an organism occupies in a food chain, indicating its feeding relationship to other organisms.
5. A close and long-term interaction between different biological species.
7. Free-swimming aquatic organisms, such as fish and squid, capable of active movement.
9. The depth in the water column where the rate of photosynthesis equals the rate of respiration
10. Zooplankton that remain in the planktonic phase throughout their entire life cycle.
11. Organisms that produce their own food through processes like photosynthesis.
12. Planktonic organisms that spend their entire life cycle in the planktonic phase.
13. A rapid increase in the population of planktonic organisms, often causing discoloration of the water.
17. Planktonic organisms that spend only a part of their life cycle as plankton
19. Microscopic organisms that drift or float in aquatic environments