plant and animal organisms, generally microscopic, that float or drift in great numbers in fresh or salt water
the aggregate of small plant and animal organisms that float or drift in great numbers in fresh or salt water
the passively floating or weakly motile aquatic plants (phytoplankton) and animals (zooplankton)
Tiny, free-floating organisms of the ocean or other aquatic systems They may be phytoplankton or zooplankton
Small (usually less than 2mm long) floating or drifting life forms in water bodies Plankton includes both plants (phytoplankton) and animals (zooplankton) that are carried passively in the water currents Those that can swim do so to change or adjust their depth in the water, not to move from place to place Plankton is one of the 3 main divisions of aquatic life The others being "nekton" (the animals that swim actively and may move long distances for feeding or breeding) and the "benthos" (organisms which crawl about on the bottom, or burrow into the bottom or grow attached to the bottom)
Passively floating or weakly motile aquatic plants (phytoplankton ) and animals (zooplankton) (Source: Carbon Dioxide Information Analysis Center, 1990)
(Greek verb: planktos= to wander or drift) The passively floating or weakly swimming animal and plant life in either fresh or marine waters Many plankton reproduce daily, some hourly, and some every 10 minutes when the temperature is optimal (often close to 0°C), and when essential nutrients and foods are present
All the animals and plants, taken collectively, which live at or near the surface of salt or fresh waters
Small plants (phytoplankton) and animals (zooplankton) that are suspended in the water and either drift with the currents or swim weakly
Microscopic plants (phytoplankton) and animals (zooplankton) which many fish feed upon early in their lives Some lake trout populations feed upon plankton for their entire lives and are said to be planktivorous
Floating or weakly swimming aquatic plants and animals that live in the open water of lakes and rivers, and that form the base of the ocean food chain
Free-swimming (as opposed to rooted/stationary) microscopic plants (phytoplankton) or animals (zooplankton) that live in water; they can be larval forms of other animals such as fish or crustaceans, or adult forms of plants and animals
floating, drifting or slowly swimming organisms that cannot swim against currents - floating and drifting organisms that have limited swimming abilities and that are carried largely passively with water currents (opp nekton) These include bacteria (bacterioplankton), plants and plant-like organisms (phytoplankton) and the animals (zooplankton) that eat them
Organisms that float through the water column, not attached to any substrate and unable to move against currents