the.com/phytoplankton
Invisible ocean plants that make every second breath you take.
means Microscopic, drifting plant-like organisms (mostly algae) that live near the ocean's surface and photosynthesize sunlight into energy, forming the base of nearly all marine food chains.
from Built from Greek parts: 'phyto-' from phyton, meaning 'plant,' and 'plankton' from planktos, meaning 'wandering' or 'drifting' — the same root as 'planet,' the wandering stars. Plankton as a scientific term was coined in the 19th century by German researchers studying ocean life that floats rather than swims against the current; phytoplankton simply marks out the plant-like, sunlight-eating half of that drifting world, as opposed to the animal-like zooplankton.
- oxygen share
- produce roughly half of earth's oxygen
- size
- mostly single cells, invisible without a microscope
- food web base
- feed nearly all marine life, directly or not
- climate role
- absorb carbon dioxide like underwater forests