Friday 2/9

Photosynthesis by the phytoplankton accounts for up to half of global primary production.   They also provide the primary food source for the zooplankton, and together form the base of the oceanic food chain.  Larger and larger zooplankton, fish, and mammals depend on these plankton for their survival.   Tying it all together, the bacterioplankton play an important role in the recycling and remineralization of materials and energy within the food chain. without plankton their would be no life in the sea.
Dinoflagellates are apart of a group called alveolates. they are most common in marine and freshwater phytoplankton. some are heterotrophic. Diatoms, on the other other, are apart of a group called stramenopiles. they are unicellular, photosynthetic algae with cell walls that contain silica.