Phytoplankton and Macroalgae

Phytoplankton - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Seaweed - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

well, I don't think weki can answer my question. = =

Well, did you even bother to look?

Perhaps your instructor can help enlighten you.

Before I ask this question, I have searched on Wiki. So I say that it can not answer my question. Well, my supervisor says that you should never expect scientific help from me. I am not here to explain this to you.

Katty, you said "I am not here to explain this to you." Interesting position.

Why are you here?

Are you here to simply get the answers to your questions, or to investigate further the questions that you have?

One will fill in your homework, and the other will help you to understand. With this understanding, perhaps you will be able to explain things to us.

=.=. Sorry, maybe you misunderstand. The sentence "I am not here to explain this to you." is what my professor talked to me, when I ask question about phytoplankton and macroalgae. I do not mean it to you.

Ok.

To answer your questions directly; yes, no, yes.

There ya go.

=.=. Sorry, maybe you misunderstand. The sentence "I am not here to explain this to you." is what my professor talked to me, when I ask question about phytoplankton and macroalgae. I do not mean it to you.

Katty, yes I did misunderstand. Thanks for clearing it for me.

So, you have an instructor who believes it it not his purpose to explain things you need a little help to understand?

Disturbing. Can you get into another class with a different instructor? There are surely other issues within your class that your instructor is neglecting...

Phytoplankton and macroalgae are not one and the same. They are two different organism which thrive in sea water. If you want to know the difference between them, google search "Phytopalnkton and Microalgae comparison". You will get lot of results.

Sorry, you failed to understand the question.

The answer you give is not relevent to the question asked.

Almost all plankton, including phytoplankton, are microscopic organisms. Plankton are, by definition, characterized by their passively drifting lifestyle. This is not the case for the usual 'macroalgae' or seaweeds, which are normally attached to submerged rocks or to the ocean floor, with the exception of Sargassum species which are never attached, and which are adapted exclusively to the floating and drifting lifestyle, therefore always referred to as plankton. A few large animals like jellyfish are also considered to be 'plankton', because they also have the same characteristic lifestyle, namely 'drifting passively' in the water.

Microscopic plankton of various kinds often form large colonies and, because they are present in such large numbers, affect the ocean colour. Check out these examples of types of plankton that commonly affect water colour and their size.

In this story about a green tide, the bloom was a species of seaweed called Enteromorpha prolifera (sea lettuce) aka Ulva lactuca, which is usually anchored to the sea bottom by a 'holdfast' and, as long as it is attached, it would not be considered plankton. However.... " It develops into dense mats which later break away to become planktonic. E. prolifera and an unidentified species of Enteromorpha begin life as epiphytes but later form free-floating mats in the shallows." _{Some aspects of the ecology of Lake Macquarie, NSW, with regard to an alleged depletion of fish. VI. Plant communities and their significance EJF Wood - Marine and Freshwater Research, 1959 - CSIRO}

As the Sargassum wiki explains, any number of macroalgae species can continue to grow and flourish as 'drifters' or plankton after they have become detached from their substrate. So to answer your question, yes, this macroalgae 'sea lettuce' is considered plankton, but only when it is found as free-floating mats.

Phytoplankton only applies to free floating microalgae. Macro-algae comes under the general category of seaweed or kelp.

I am confused by this terms. Does phytoplankton include macroalgae? Or phytoplankton only equals to microalgae? For example, the algae that cause green tide is one kind of macroalgae. Does it belongs to phytoplankton?

movers nyc

Phytoplankton - simply means plant (phyto) with a drifting lifestyle (plankton). The seaweeds that are planktonic can be referred to as phytoplankton.

When "phytoplankton" are discussed generally, however, the term usually is used to refer to microscopic algae. That is because the vast, vast, majority of phytoplankton are microscopic. It would be quite normal for a biologist to describe phytoplankton as microscopic organisms, and exclude drifting seaweeds from the discussion, since the ecological role is not the same as the majority group of "phytoplankton".

To avoid miscommunication, I would use the term "phytoplankton" for microscopic species, and "planktonic seaweeds" to refer to species like Lactuca or Sargasso. However it is not technically incorrect to refer to them as "phytoplankton" as well, and I think this is the answer a planktologist would give you.