Slides in this set
About two-thirds of the Earth is covered in water, this supports
a huge variety of living organisms.
Life in water is very different from life on land. There are
several advantages of living in an aquatic environment,
low risk of dehydration
easy disposal of
less variation in temperature,
in large volumes of water
water provides physical
support, allowing organisms
to grow bigger.…read more
Disadvantages of life in water
There are also disadvantages of living in an aquatic
Water resistance can make it hard for aquatic organisms
to move around easily.
Regulating water content
can be challenging for
aquatic organisms. In
certain types of aquatic
environments water can
move into an organism
from the surroundings by
the process of osmosis.…read more
What is plankton?
Plankton are microscopic aquatic organisms.
There are two types of plankton:
Phytoplankton microscopic plants
that use photosynthesis to produce
food. Phytoplankton are important
producers in marine ecosystems.
Zooplankton microscopic animals
that include the larva of larger
animals, such as crustaceans.
Plankton rely on water currents to
move around as they have limited
Variations in plankton populations
Phytoplankton populations show seasonal and geographical
variations. This can be due to:
availability of nitrates
essential to growth
light intensity affects
the rate of photosynthesis
temperature affects the
rate of photosynthesis.
Zooplankton feed on phytoplankton, so the population of
zooplankton will also display variations.…read more