Grazing Processes and the Structure and Persistence of Thin Biological Layers
Abstract
My long-term goal is to understand the functional roles of microzooplankton (20-200 um) in the sea, with emphasis on their contribution to grazing. It has been argued that on a timescale of days the instantaneous grazing rate of zooplankton in toto is greater than the instantaneous rates of vertical and horizontal mixing by at least an order of magnitude and is the same order of magnitude as the instantaneous rate of phytoplankton cell division. Hence, grazing is a critically important term in the dynamics of phytoplankton loss (Banse 1992). Because microzooplankton are the major grazers in pelagic food webs under most circumstances, their grazing activities exert an important impact on phytoplankton losses in the sea. My specific interests lie in (1) studying their processes of feeding and reproduction at the level of the individual organisms and the community and (2) understanding their function as prey for higher order consumers.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Sep 30, 1999
- Accession Number
- ADA629832
Entities
People
- Dian J. Gifford
Organizations
- University of Rhode Island