plankton vocabulary

3. Organisms that produce their own food through processes like photosynthesis.
4. A type of phytoplankton with a silica-based cell wall, often shaped like a glass shell.
6. Extremely small-sized plankton, smaller than microplankton.
7. The position an organism occupies in a food chain, indicating its feeding relationship to other organisms.
8. The depth in the water column where the rate of photosynthesis equals the rate of respiration.
10. Larger-sized plankton, visible under a microscope.
12. Organisms that obtain their energy by consuming other organisms.
13. Pertaining to the bottom of a body of water; organisms living on or in the substrate.
16. A close and long-term interaction between different biological species.
17. Small animals that feed on phytoplankton or other zooplankton.
18. Microscopic organisms that drift or float in aquatic environments.

1. A bloom of harmful, often toxic, phytoplankton that can lead to the discoloration of water.
2. Zooplankton that remain in the planktonic phase throughout their entire life cycle.
5. Unicellular algae that can be both phytoplankton and sometimes bioluminescent.
9. Small crustaceans that are a common type of zooplankton.
11. Planktonic organisms that spend their entire life cycle in the planktonic phase. Meroplankton: Planktonic organisms that spend only a part of their life cycle as plankton.
14. A rapid increase in the population of planktonic organisms, often causing discoloration of the water.
15. Free-swimming aquatic organisms, such as fish and squid, capable of active movement.
18. Microscopic, photosynthetic organisms that form the base of the aquatic food chain.