| Popis: |
Roughly half of the planet’s primary production—the synthesis of organic matter by chlorophyll-bearing organisms using light energy from the sun—is produced within the Global Ocean. The primary producers in the oceans are phytoplanktonic microbes suspended in the sunlit surface layer. These energy-fixing microorganisms form the basis of the marine food web, the network of pathways through which food energy is transferred to all the other organisms in the marine system including other microbes, zooplankton, fish, marine mammals, and, ultimately, humans. ‘Marine biological processes’ outlines the four main groups of marine microbes—bacteria, archaea, protists, and viruses—and discusses the factors affecting marine primary productivity. |
