Greetings All !
Quote:
Originally posted by acrylic_300
... Some of the bacteria could be photosynthetic and live in the water column. ...
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Several groups of bacteria in marine aquaria are photosynthetic, the most familiar one being cyanobacteria (aka blue-green algae). Also, in terms of N and P processing, we're talking about finding bacteria in three different places: (1) attached to an inorganic surface, (2) attached to an organic surface, and, (3) suspended in the water column, aka "free-living" bacteria. I make the "location" distinction because each of these different bacterial communities can demonstrate different metabolic and/or respiratory behavior, and sometimes the differences are
significant. I'm excluding the bacteria that live
within an organic surface because these populations don't generally exert much influence on N and P processing.
Quote:
Originally posted by acrylic_300
... I'm still kinda confused on what constitutes as phytoplankton ...
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Hehe ... welcome to the club. The nomenclature can get a little mind-numbing. Generally speaking ...
Plankton: Plankton are any drifting organism that inhabits the pelagic zone of oceans, seas, or bodies of fresh water. It is a description of life-style rather than a genetic classification. They are widely considered to be some of the most important organisms on Earth, due to the food supply they provide to most aquatic life.
(For more:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plankton)
Perhaps more useful are these ...
Phytoplankton: Phytoplankton are the autotrophic component of plankton. When present in high enough numbers, they may appear as a green discoloration of the water due to the presence of chlorophyll within their cells (although the actual color may vary with the species of phytoplankton present due to varying levels of chlorophyll or the presence of accessory pigments such as phycobiliproteins). In terms of numbers, the most important groups of phytoplankton include the diatoms, cyanobacteria and dinoflagellates, although many other groups of algae are represented.
(For more:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phytoplankton)
Zooplankton: Zooplankton are the heterotrophic (or detritivorous) component of the plankton that drift in the water column of oceans, seas, and bodies of fresh water. Zooplankton is a broad categorisation spanning a range of organism sizes that includes both small protozoans and large metazoans. It includes holoplanktonic organisms whose complete life cycle lies within the plankton, and meroplanktonic organisms that spend part of their life cycle in the plankton before graduating to either the nekton or a sessile, benthic existence.
(For more:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zooplankton)
Bacterioplankton: Bacterioplankton refers to the bacterial component of the plankton that drifts in the water column. Bacterioplankton occupy a range of ecological niches in aquatic systems. Many are saprotrophic, and obtain energy by consuming organic material produced by other organisms. This material may be dissolved in the medium and taken directly from there, or bacteria may live and grow in association with particulate material such as marine snow. Many other bacterioplankton species are autotrophic, and derive energy from either photosynthesis or chemosynthesis. The former are often categorised as picophytoplankton, and include cyanobacterial groups such as Prochlorococcus and Synechococcus. Bacterioplankton also play roles in ecological pathways such as nitrogen fixation, nitrification, denitrification, remineralisation and methanogenesis.
(For more:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bacterioplankton)
HTH
