Zooplankton: The Ocean Drifters

CALLIARI D.L; BERASATEGUI A. A.; MENÉNDEZ MARÍA CLARA

Marine Biology A Functional Approach to the Oceans and their Organisms

Taylor & Francis Group, LLC

Lugar: Boca Raton; Año: 2022; p. 113 - 149

This chapter provides an introduction to the main biological and ecological traits of marine zooplankton.It focuses on metazoan plankton (or metazooplankton; Protista are discussed in Chapter 5). The term zooplankton has etymological roots in the fusion of the Greek zoon, that means animal, and planktos, that means wandering or drifting. It identifies the free-living organisms whose swimmingcapacity is restricted and insufficient to oppose the movements of marine water masses. Although most zooplankton groups do possess some degree of motility that allows to control their position within the water column (for instance, to perform vertical migrations), their horizontal displacements and distribution are largely determined by marine currents. Due to their typical size, zooplankton develop their vital functions and activities (food capture, evasion of predators, vertical migrations) under a wide range of Reynolds numbers that includes the hydrodynamic transition between viscous and inertial regimes. This chapter begins with a brief description of the main systematic groups within the zooplankton,followed by a review of alternative classification schemes, a discussion of the trophic ecology of selected groups and of their role in marine food webs. It closes with brief remarks on the regulation of zooplankton secondary production