Hot Topic Plankton Lab Report

Hot Topic Post Lab II

Marine plankton are often mislabeled by many marine researchers. Originally, scientists classified them as either phytoplankton (primary producers) or zooplankton (primary consumers). However, recent studies reveal that these organisms are not a dichotomy, but rather a single class of multifaceted plankton. These mixotrophs acquire both plant and animal like characteristics and are very abundant in the earth’s oceans. Mixotrophic plankton are responsible for almost half of the photosynthetic activity on earth. As a result, much of the marine life is dependent on them as producers of the food web. This essay will analyze three articles that examine mixotrophic activity in marine planktonic food webs. In these studies,

Most of the qualitative data was obtained from the Ocean Biogeographic Information System (OBIS) database. Quantitative data was obtained by surveying over 180 articles in the ISI Web of Science database in addition to research that used a non-destructive in situ imaging system. R software was used to perform Non-metric multidimensional scaling (NMDS) and make an analysis. Both qualitative and quantitative data was used to compare mixotrophic biomass across time/seasonal progression and spatial distribution/biomes (Leles et al.,

In addition to previous research, the scientists from the third article perform their own experiment, in which they account for multiple environmental factors, to support their conclusions. The scientists of the first two articles, however, rely on previous research to make conclusions and make analysis based on data collected by other individuals. This is less effective because the data used from these sources each involve different dates and experimental conditions which can alter the results. Therefore, the third article is more credible since they correctly follow the scientific method, eliminating any source of bias or inaccuracy.

References:

Leles, S. G., Mitra, A., Flynn, K. J., Stoecker, D. K., Hansen, P. J., Calbet, A., McManus G. B., Sanders R. W., Caron D.A., Not F., Hallegraeff G.M., Pitta P., Raven J.A., Johnson M. D., Gilbert P. M., and Våge S. (2017). Oceanic protists with different forms of acquired phototrophy display contrasting biogeographies and abundance. In Proc. R. Soc. B. 284(1860): 1-6.

Moriarty, R., and O'Brien, T. D. (2013). Distribution of mesozooplankton biomass in the global ocean. Earth System Science Data. 5(1): 893-919.

Stoecker, D. K., Gustafson, D. E., and Verity, P. G. (1996). Micro-and mesoprotozooplankton at 140* W in the equatorial Pacific: heterotrophs and mixotrophs. Aquatic Microbial Ecology.