Biologi Laut

OCEAN DRIFTERS
Marine phytoplankton, i.e. the autotrophic
component of the plankton (from the Greek
terms “phyton” or plant and “planktos” or
wanderer) obtain energy through
photosynthesis and therefore live within the
well-lit surface layers of the ocean, down to
200 m in the clearest waters Most phytoplankton species are microscopic
unicellular organisms with a size ranging
between 0.4 and 200 μm. Marine
phytoplankton represent less that 1% of the
Earth's photosynthetic biomass. Yet, this
compartment is responsible for more than 45%
Continuous grazing and recycling keeps the of our planet's annual net primary production
biomass of this extremely active compartment
low, compared to the biomass of terrestrial
photosynthetic organisms. The evolution of
marine photoautotrophs began in the
Archaean period with the origin of
photosynthesis
 Holoplankton
Meroplanktonspe spends entire lifecycle
as plankton
nd part of lifecycle as
plankton Ex. diatoms, copepods
Ex. fish and crab
larvae, eggs
Plankton is important ....
• Food source (basis of the food web)
• Producer of oxygen (photosynthesis)
• Cause of toxic “blooms” (resulting in fish
kills and shellfish poisoning)
• Means for dispersal of organisms by
transport in currents
• Major players in the global carbon cycle
 How are plankton studied?
• Collected with sampling
bottles
• Special nets
• Microscopes
• Cultured in labs

Photo by: Lisa Wu

Students aboard the R/V Slover in the

southern Chesapeake Bay
Collection Methods
• Fish and invertebrate larvae (net plankton) are collected during plankton
tows

• Depth, distance towed, and the volume of water sampled must be calculated

• Mesh sizes of nets vary depending upon what is being researched

The large aluminum frame of the neuston net is 1 meter high and 3 This plankton net is being deployed to collect near-surface plankton in
meters long. Here the net is being deployed off the starboard side of Maug caldera. The net is about 2 m (6.5 ft) long and has a mesh size of
the R/V Seward Johnson 236 microns (0.25 mm or 0.01 in).
 
Collecting Plankton
Bongo nets are towed over
the side of the ship or carried
by divers to collect drifting
organisms

Image ID: fish1014, NOAA's Fisheries Collection

Deploying Bongo nets for
Photo Date: 1987 sampling plankton
Photographer: Captain Robert A. Pawlowski, NOAA Corps

Image ID: nur05536, Voyage To Inner Space - Exploring the Seas

With NOAA Collect
Photographer: J. Morin
Credit: OAR/National Undersea Research Program (NURP)
 Study from space
• Satellites equipped with color
scanners measure the
concentration of chlorophyll in
the ocean
• Red = high concentration of
chlorophyll
• Chlorophyll is the major pigment
for photosynthesis in
phytoplankton
• Data provides information
concerning biomass, productivity,
and changes in plant populations
How are phytoplankton different from zooplankton?
Phytoplankton
• Producers
• Single cells or chains of
cells
• Include the smallest
plankton – picoplankton
(0.2 -2 microns)
• Remain near the surface
Zooplankton
• Consumers (including
herbivores and carnivores)
• Include microscopic and
macroscopic organisms
• May vertically migrate (to a
depth of 200m) during the day
for protection but resurface at
night to feed
Phytoplankton
1. Pelagic environment is the
largest marine ecosystem.
More food, oxygen and biota
(life) are here than anywhere
else.
2. The dominant organism in
the neritic zone and oceanic
zone is plankton
3. Plankton are organisms that
can not make a forward
motion against a current.
4. There are two types of
plankton: phytoplankton &
zooplankton.
5. Phytoplankton are photosynthetic
autotrophs, who begin all marine
food webs.
6. Produce 50-90% of all atmospheric
oxygen, and are critical biomass.
7. They are adapted to a floating
lifestyle because of their:
– Small size - diffusion is quick,
frictional drag from large surface
area to low volume ratio helps
slow sinking.
– Structure - disks shaped or chains
aid in floating.
– Low density - light ions and lipid
by-products of photosynthesis
reduce density and aid floating.
8. They are grouped by
color. Different pigments
allow them to take
advantage of different
light penetration at
various depths.
9. Phytoplankton are found
in 3 kingdoms and 5
phyla.
10. Commercially, algae are
used as emulsifiers to give
a smooth texture to
puddings, toothpaste, ice
cream, and shoe polish.
11. A “bloom” is an increase in
population density of
phytoplankton associated
with high nutrient levels. It
can be the result of
upwelling or excessive
nutrients.
12. Upwelling is caused by winds and other atmospheric
conditions that move surface water away from the
shore, pulling nutrient rich bottom water to the surface.
13. Diatoms are dominants in
cool water.
14. Blooms are good for the
food chain, fishing, and
trigger whale migrations.
15. Blooms of some
plankton, especially in
warm water, may be
harmful.
a. When storms follow hot,
dry weather, dominant
cysts of toxic
phytoplankton may be
released.
b. As these toxic blooms
enter the food chain,
they give off chemical
neurotoxins that
paralyze the predator’s
nerves controlling
breathing and heart
rate.
c. Human consumption of
these organisms result
in paralytic shellfish
poisoning due to
biomagnification.
d. The dominant
phytoplankton in warm
water are
dinoflagellates. They
cause a condition called
red tide.
e. Red tides is a result of a
wind pattern, Peruvian
fishermen named “El
Nino”.
f. A change in winds
direction blows surface
water toward the land
and prevents upwelling.
Water is depleted of
nutrients and fishing is
poor.
http://app.discoveryeducati
on.com/player/view/assetG
uid/E586AE5C-CF4D-4FD6-
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Zooplankton
1. Zooplankton are the
primary consumers,
heterotrophic herbivores,
in food webs.
2. They are the smallest and
most numerous marine
animals.
3. Their population density
depends on the
availability of
phytoplankton upon
which they graze.
4. There are two groups of
zooplankton:
a. Meroplankton
- planktonic larvae who will
become adult fish, worms,
Mollusks, and Crustaceans
- The advantage of
meroplankton lifestyle is
reduced competition from
adults for the same basic
needs.
- Predation is extremely
high because of their size
and lack of adaptability.
b. Holoplankton
• will remain plankton
throughout life
• Remain visible, but tiny
5. Copepods (phylum:
Arthropoda) are 95% of all
zooplankton. Others are krill,
foraminifera and members of
the Kingdom Protista, Phylum
Protozoa
6. Zooplankton are grouped
by the way they move.
• By pseudopods
(amoeba)
• By flagella (euglena)
• By cilia (paramecium)
Vertical Migration
• Vertical migration is a
daily pattern of
phytoplankton and
zooplankton changing
positions like a day and
night shift.
During the day -
• phytoplankton produce
lipids by photosynthesis.
• Because oils are less
dense than water, the
products of
photosynthesis increase
their buoyancy.
As the sun goes down -
• The phytoplankton
use lipids for energy
which causes them to
sink in the water
column.
• In response to the
“rain” of
phytoplankton
descending, the
zooplankton move up
in the water column
to graze on them.
As the sun comes up -
• Photosynthesis again
causes more production
than the organisms need
at that time, the
phytoplankton become
lighter and begin to float
upward.
• The zooplankton begin
their downward response
to graze again and to take
advantage of reduced
visibility and less heat than
at the surface.
• These two periods of
grazing:
– protect both populations
– reduces predation http://youtu.be/FBEDd7o
– distributes stress in the bCAc
ecosystem
 Plankton as ecological indicators
Plankton provides ideal indicators of ecosystem
health and ecological change because:
• it is abundant, short-lived, not harvested, and
sensitive to changes in temperature, acidity and
nutrients.
• Plankton has thus been used as indicators for
climate change, eutrophication, fisheries,
invasive species, ecosystem health and
biodiversity.
• Here, we have used the term ecological
indicator as a measure of ecosystem state
without considering a threshold level that
triggers management intervention as in
fisheries management.
 PLANKTON OBSERVATIONS
• The Integrated Marine Observing System (IMOS)
is a national ocean observing system measuring
the physical, chemical and biological
environment.
• AusCPR samples are collected using a CPR towed
behind commercial ships and then returned to
the laboratory for counting. The AusCPR survey
has analysed 15,196 samples (Figure 3) and
recorded 770 plankton taxa (Figure 4).
 RANGE EXPANSION OF THE RED TIDE
SPECIES NOCTILUCA SCINTILLANS
• Work by Dave McLeod (CSIRO) and co-workers suggests that the range
of Noctiluca is expanding as waters warm16. Noctiluca scintillans is a
conspicuous, predatory dinoflagellate that commonly forms red tides.
• The continued range expansion and increase in abundance of
Noctiluca Australia could have negative impacts on aquaculture and
fisheries. Noctiluca has been implicated in the decline of fisheries in
the Indian Ocean18 and impacts caged fish production19 through de-
oxygenation of the water and as a result of a build-up of toxic
ammonia within its cells. There is anecdotal evidence of shellfish
turning pink after ingesting Noctiluca. Sustained and spectacular
blooms of Noctiluca were observed around Hobart in May/June 2015,
providing a beautiful display of bioluminescence for many weeks
(Figure 8).
 Ocean acidification
• There has been a drop of 0.1 pH units since the
Industrial Revolution, representing a 30% increase
in hydrogen ions. This partially dissolves calcium
carbonate structures of animals and plants,
increasing maintenance costs and reducing
growth. Among marine organisms with calcium
carbonate shells, those with the aragonite form of
calcium carbonate are more susceptibility to
acidification than those with calcite.
 Biodiversity
• There is a large-scale patern in biodiversity from the
tropics to the poles in both the dinoflagellates
(based on 46 species) and copepods (based on 236
species), from 3,657 CPR samples (Figure 12). This
decrease is typical of many terrestrial and marine
groups and is related to temperature. These data
provide important baselines to assess changes in
biodiversity against. Another way to view
biodiversity patterns is to assess how different
communities are around Australia.
 Unusual biodiversity records
• In 2014, the dinoflagellate Ceratoperidinium falcatum was
observed in significant numbers at Port Hacking, reported
for the first time in this region. The taxonomy of this
genus has recently been clarified by a team including
Miguel de Salas (University of Tasmania)24, The rarely
reported “shade flora”, dinoflagellate species such as
Tripos gravidus and Tripos horridus var. claviger found at
the deep chlorophyll maximum (100-200 m depth) in the
tropical ocean were encountered in September 2014 in
plankton net samples off North Stradbroke Island,
indicating intrusion of deep oceanic water onto the shelf.
• Small copepods Oncaea zernovi, O. vodjanitskii, O. atlantica,
Spinoncaea sp., Triconia umerus and T. denticula were
documented from Australian waters for the first time in 2013.
Unusually, the cold-water/upwelling copepods Euchirella
rostromagna, Neocalanus tonus and Calanoides carinatus were
found between Sydney and Melbourne in September 2014.
• Other notable observations in recent years include the first
records in Australia for the copepods Scaphocalanus brevicornis
(seen in June 2012 off Tasmania Paraeucalanus sewelli (seen in
December 2011 between Brisbane and Sydney), Euchirella
rostrata (seen in August 2010 off Brisbane) and Euchirella
rostromagna (seen in October 2010 near Sydney).
 Productivity supporting fish
• The carrying capacity of marine ecosystems (the mass of
fish resources) and recruitment of individual stocks is
strongly related to plankton abundance, timing and
composition. Productivity hotspots have high densities of
plankton and are important for fish and whales alike.

• Fisheries in SE Australia account for 50% of our catch. The

main fishery by tonnage is for sardine (which feeds on
plankton), which is then food for larger fish such as tuna.
We provide three indicators of zooplankton that represent
the carrying capacity of these waters (Figure 16).
 Ecosystem health
• Phytoplankton bloom naturally, with numbers increasing rapidly to more
than a million cells/L, providing sustenance for zooplankton grazers and
the wild fisheries that depend upon them. However, under some
circumstances, particular phytoplankton species can produce toxins and
proliferate, discolouring the water.
• This bloom phenomenon is called a Harmful Algal Bloom (HAB) and can
have serious economic, health and environmental impacts. In Australia,
HABs have resulted in toxin accumulation in oysters, mussels, abalone,
scallops, clams and rock lobster, although few cases result in human
health impacts due to strict monitoring programs and harvesting
restrictions. One recent HAB in Tasmania had an economic impact of $23
million. Some HABs are non-toxic, but are so abundant that they can
irritate fish gills, or can kill fish when the bloom decays and the water is
depleted of oxygen.
THANK YOU
 Potential management applications
• Plankton indicators are fundamental in many ecosystem assessments. The
Ecosystem Health Monitoring Program in Southeast Queensland began in 2000
and was the first ecosystem report card in the world. This program produces an
easy-to-understand report card that informs councils, managers and the general
public on current ecosystem health and evaluates the effectiveness of
management actions. A key ecological indicator of the ecosystem response to
nutrient input (eutrophication) in the report card is phytoplankton biomass
measured as chlorophyll-a.
• State of Environment (SoE) reporting is a process of presenting key information
about environmental condition, pressures driving it, and management
effectiveness. A national SoE Report is produced every 5 years, and most states
and territories also produce their own reports. There are extensive opportunities
for including IMOS ecological indicators series into SoE reporting, including those
representing primary and secondary productivity, ecosystem health, climate
change and ocean acidification (Figure 26).
• IMOS plankton data provide a cost effective means of monitoring key habitats (Figure 27).
Plankton diversity and abundance are available within or near areas of conservation
values such as key ecological features and protected areas such as the Commonwealth
Marine Reserves and the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park. Key ecological features (KEFs)
are habitats regionally important for maintaining biodiversity or ecosystems.
• Zooplankton are nearly always poorly constrained in models due to limited data.
Observations by scientists within IMOS and elsewhere provide an opportunity to bring
together complementary observations at multiple scales for use in ecosystem models.
There are several models at CSIRO and at universities in Australia that will benefit from
improved zooplankton data: the CSIRO Environmental Modelling Suite (eReefs, south east
Tasmania); WOMBAT (global runs); Atlantis (many regional applications in Australia);
Ecopath with Ecosim (many regional applications); MICE (Model of Intermediate
Complexity for Ecosystem assessments); and ROMS biogeochemistry (GAB, WA, NSW).
ZOOM will assess the strengths and weaknesses of zooplankton data types, increase use
of zooplankton data in models, improve parameterization of zooplankton processes, and
enhance collaboration between the zooplankton observational and modelling
communities.