What does benthic and planktonic mean?
Benthos (organisms that live at the ocean floor) can be contrasted with neuston (organisms that live at the ocean surface) plankton (organisms that drift with water currents) and nekton (organisms that can swim against water currents)
What is benthic planktonic coupling?
Benthic–pelagic coupling is a concept in which sea floor processes affect pelagic ecosystems (Rowe et al., 1975). It involves several oceanographic processes related to the chemistry, biology, and physics that actively link sea floor (benthos) with the overlying water masses (pelagos) (Fig. 1).
What is the difference between a planktonic and benthic organism?
Overview. Phytoplankton and zooplankton are two types of plankton. Nekton are aquatic animals that can move on their own by swimming through the water. Benthos are aquatic organisms that crawl in sediments at the bottom of a body of water.
What is the meaning of planktonic?
Planktonic definition Of or pertaining to plankton. adjective. Floating in the open sea rather than living on the seafloor. adjective.
Are dinoflagellates planktonic or benthic?
The majority of dinoflagellates are planktonic and only small percentage is benthic (Hoppenrath et al., 2014). Benthic dinoflagellates are usually found in the interstitial spaces between sand grains and in the intertidal shallow zone where mixing is observed.
What is zooplankton and phytoplankton?
There are two main types of plankton: phytoplankton, which are plants, and zooplankton, which are animals. Zooplankton and other small marine creatures eat phytoplankton and then become food for fish, crustaceans, and other larger species.
What is the difference between the pelagic and benthic zones?
The first major distinction is between the pelagic and benthic zones. The pelagic zone refers to the water column, where swimming and floating organisms live. The benthic zone refers to the bottom, and organisms living on and in the bottom are known as the benthos .
How do Coccolithophores move?
Although motility and colony formation vary according to the life cycle of different coccolithophore species, there is often alternation between a motile, haploid phase, and a non-motile diploid phase. In both phases, the organism’s dispersal is largely due to ocean currents and circulation patterns.
What are planktonic cells?
Planktonic cells are classically defined “as free flowing bacteria in suspension” as. opposed to the sessile state (the so called biofilm): “a structured community of bacterial. cells enclosed in a self-produced polymeric matrix and adherent to an inert or living. surface” as stated by Costerton and coworkers (1999).
What are planktonic algae?
Planktonic algae are microscopic plants that live in every drop of pond water. These primitive creatures are extremely important to the aquatic ecosystem because they are the base for the food chain and are largely responsible for the chemistry of the pond.
Are foraminifera planktonic or benthic?
Most foraminifera are marine, the majority of which live on or within the seafloor sediment (i.e., are benthic), while a smaller number float in the water column at various depths (i.e., are planktonic), which belong to the suborder Globigerinina.
What is the difference between planktonic and benthic?
Planktonic is an antonym of benthic. is that planktonic is of or pertaining to plankton while benthic is pertaining to the benthos; living on the seafloor, as opposed to floating in the ocean. Other Comparisons: What’s the difference?
What is the meaning of plankton?
Of or pertaining to plankton. Pertaining to the benthos; living on the seafloor, as opposed to floating in the ocean. Floating in the open sea rather than living on the seafloor.
What is the meaning of benthos?
Of or pertaining to plankton. Pertaining to the benthos; living on the seafloor, as opposed to floating in the ocean. Floating in the open sea rather than living on the seafloor. of, pertaining to, or occurring at the bottom of a body of water, especially referring to the ocean depths.