Planktology is the

study Study or studies may refer to: General * Education **Higher education * Clinical trial * Experiment * Observational study * Research * Study skills, abilities and approaches applied to learning Other * Study (art), a drawing or series of drawi ...

plankton Plankton are the diverse collection of organisms found in Hydrosphere, water (or atmosphere, air) that are unable to propel themselves against a Ocean current, current (or wind). The individual organisms constituting plankton are called plankt ...

, various small drifting plants, animals and

microorganism A microorganism, or microbe,, ''mikros'', "small") and ''organism'' from the el, ὀργανισμός, ''organismós'', "organism"). It is usually written as a single word but is sometimes hyphenated (''micro-organism''), especially in olde ...

s that inhabit bodies of

water Water (chemical formula ) is an inorganic, transparent, tasteless, odorless, and nearly colorless chemical substance, which is the main constituent of Earth's hydrosphere and the fluids of all known living organisms (in which it acts as a ...

. Planktology topics include

primary production In ecology, primary production is the synthesis of organic compounds from atmospheric or aqueous carbon dioxide. It principally occurs through the process of photosynthesis, which uses light as its source of energy, but it also occurs through c ...

, energy flow and the

carbon cycle The carbon cycle is the biogeochemical cycle by which carbon is exchanged among the biosphere, pedosphere, geosphere, hydrosphere, and Earth's atmosphere, atmosphere of the Earth. Carbon is the main component of biological compounds as well as ...

. Plankton drive the "

biological pump The biological pump (or ocean carbon biological pump or marine biological carbon pump) is the ocean's biologically driven sequestration of carbon from the atmosphere and land runoff to the ocean interior and seafloor sediments.Sigman DM & GH ...

", a process by which the

ocean The ocean (also the sea or the world ocean) is the body of salt water that covers approximately 70.8% of the surface of Earth and contains 97% of Earth's water. An ocean can also refer to any of the large bodies of water into which the wo ...

ecosystem An ecosystem (or ecological system) consists of all the organisms and the physical environment with which they interact. These biotic and abiotic components are linked together through nutrient cycles and energy flows. Energy enters the syste ...

transports

carbon Carbon () is a chemical element with the symbol C and atomic number 6. It is nonmetallic and tetravalent In chemistry, the valence (US spelling) or valency (British spelling) of an element is the measure of its combining capacity with o ...

from the surface

euphotic zone The photic zone, euphotic zone, epipelagic zone, or sunlight zone is the uppermost layer of a body of water that receives sunlight, allowing phytoplankton to perform photosynthesis. It undergoes a series of physical, chemical, and biological proc ...

to the ocean's depths. Such processes are vital to

carbon dioxide sink A carbon sink is anything, natural or otherwise, that accumulates and stores some carbon-containing chemical compound for an indefinite period and thereby removes carbon dioxide () from the atmosphere. Globally, the two most important carbon si ...

s, one of several possibilities for countering

global warming In common usage, climate change describes global warming—the ongoing increase in global average temperature—and its effects on Earth's climate system. Climate change in a broader sense also includes previous long-term changes to E ...

. Modern planktology includes behavioral aspects of drifting organisms, engaging modern ''

in situ ''In situ'' (; often not italicized in English) is a Latin phrase that translates literally to "on site" or "in position." It can mean "locally", "on site", "on the premises", or "in place" to describe where an event takes place and is used in ...

'' imaging devices. Some planktology projects allow the public to participate

online In computer technology and telecommunications, online indicates a state of connectivity and offline indicates a disconnected state. In modern terminology, this usually refers to an Internet connection, but (especially when expressed "on line" or ...

, such as the

Long-term Ecosystem Observatory The Long-term Ecological Observatory (LEO) is a project off the coast of New Jersey, United States, which monitors the processes in the ocean with online IT systems, spearheaded by the Institute of Marine and Coastal Sciences at Rutgers Univer ...

Notable planktologists

Karl Banse Karl A. Banse, born 1929 in Koeningsberg, Germany, is an American oceanographer, marine biologist, and professor emeritus at the University of Washington. He obtained his Ph.D. in oceanography at the University of Kiel in 1955. In 1960 he became ...

Sayed ElSayed ''Sayyid'' (, ; ar, سيد ; ; meaning 'sir', 'Lord', 'Master'; Arabic plural: ; feminine: ; ) is a surname of people descending from the Islamic prophet Muhammad through his grandsons, Hasan ibn Ali and Husayn ibn Ali, sons of Muhamma ...

Paul Falkowski Paul G. Falkowski (born 1951) is an American biological oceanographer in the Institute of Marine and Coastal Sciences at Rutgers University in New Brunswick, New Jersey. His research work focuses on phytoplankton and primary production, and hi ...

Gotthilf Hempel Gotthilf Hempel (born March 8, 1929) is a retired Germany, German Marine biology, marine biologist and Oceanography, oceanographer. Hempel studied biology and geology at the universities of Mainz and Heidelberg. In 1952 he gained his Ph.D. wit ...

Victor Hensen Christian Andreas Victor Hensen (10 February 1835 – 5 April 1924) was a German zoologist and marine biologist (planktology). He coined the term ''plankton'' and laid the foundation for biological oceanography and quantitative studies. Family ...

Uwe Kils Uwe Kils is a German marine biologist specializing in Antarctic biology. Career His work led to the development of instruments for ''in situ'' observation of underwater fauna, including the ecoSCOPE and the first software for full speed video p ...

Johannes Krey Johannes is a Medieval Latin form of the personal name that usually appears as "John" in English language contexts. It is a variant of the Greek and Classical Latin variants (Ιωάννης, ''Ioannes''), itself derived from the Hebrew name '' Yeh ...

Jürgen Lenz Jürgen or Jurgen is a popular masculine given name in Germany, Estonia, Belgium and the Netherlands. It is cognate with George. Notable people named Jürgen include: A * Jürgen Ahrend (born 1930), German organ builder *Jürgen Alzen (born 1 ...

Vivienne Cassie Cooper Una Vivienne Cassie Cooper (née Dellow; 29 September 1926 – 5 July 2021) was a New Zealand planktologist and botanist. Early life Cassie Cooper was born on 29 September 1926 in the Auckland suburb of Epsom to Annie Eveline Bell and her h ...

External links

Victor Hensen biographyGotthilf Hempel
{{zoology Subfields of zoology