Plankton - the cornerstone of the marine ecosystem.

What is Plankton???-Two “flavors”

-Phytoplankton (microscopic plants)-Zooplankton (microscopic animals)

-Many different species.-Major source of food and oxygen (95% of generation).-Drift on ocean currents.

Everyone loves Plankton!-Density of plankton (amount of plankton in a given volume of water) is an indicator of how much life thatwater can support.

Need to know:-how much water was sampled-how much plankton was collected

Plankton Sampling

Great site for calculating plankton density:http://darter.ocps.net/classroom/klenk/FT/Pktint%20.htm

If you have a drag net with a mouth radius of 0.25 meters and you drag it 4 meters, how much water have you sampled? Show your work.

This gives you a concentrated sample of 1 liter. You sample 0.03 liters of this and find 100 of one type of zooplankton. What is the density of this type of plankton in the original body of water you sampled (expressed in units of zooplankton per liter)? Show work.

Note: one cubic meter = 1000 liters

Example: