Free-floating minute organisms that are photosynthetic. The term is non-taxonomic and refers to a lifestyle (energy utilization and motility), rather than a particular type of organism. Most, but not all, are unicellular algae. Important groups include DIATOMS; DINOFLAGELLATES; CYANOBACTERIA; CHLOROPHYTA; HAPTOPHYTA; CRYPTOMONADS; and silicoflagellates.

The enrichment of a terrestrial or aquatic ECOSYSTEM by the addition of nutrients, especially nitrogen and phosphorus, that results in a superabundant growth of plants, ALGAE, or other primary producers. It can be a natural process or result from human activity such as agriculture runoff or sewage pollution. In aquatic ecosystems, an increase in the algae population is termed an algal bloom.

The common name for the phylum of microscopic unicellular STRAMENOPILES. Most are aquatic, being found in fresh, brackish, and salt water. Diatoms are noted for the symmetry and sculpturing of their siliceous cell walls. They account for 40% of PHYTOPLANKTON, but not all diatoms are planktonic.

Minute free-floating animal organisms which live in practically all natural waters.

A great expanse of continuous bodies of salt water which together cover more than 70 percent of the earth's surface. Seas may be partially or entirely enclosed by land, and are smaller than the five oceans (Atlantic, Pacific, Indian, Arctic, and Antarctic).

The salinated water of OCEANS AND SEAS that provides habitat for marine organisms.

An algal bloom where the algae produce powerful toxins that can kill fish, birds, and mammals, and ultimately cause illness in humans. The harmful bloom can also cause oxygen depletion in the water due to the death and decomposition of non-toxic algae species.

A group (or phylum) of unicellular EUKARYOTA (or algae) possessing CHLOROPLASTS and FLAGELLA.

Water containing no significant amounts of salts, such as water from RIVERS and LAKES.

Total mass of all the organisms of a given type and/or in a given area. (From Concise Dictionary of Biology, 1990) It includes the yield of vegetative mass produced from any given crop.

Community of tiny aquatic PLANTS and ANIMALS, and photosynthetic BACTERIA, that are either free-floating or suspended in the water, with little or no power of locomotion. They are divided into PHYTOPLANKTON and ZOOPLANKTON.

The science that deals with the ocean and its phenomena. (Webster, 3d ed)

Sulfur compounds in which the sulfur atom is attached to three organic radicals and an electronegative element or radical.

A genus of obligately aerobic marine phototrophic and chemoorganotrophic bacteria, in the family RHODOBACTERACEAE.

Flagellate EUKARYOTES, found mainly in the oceans. They are characterized by the presence of transverse and longitudinal flagella which propel the organisms in a rotating manner through the water. Dinoflagellida were formerly members of the class Phytomastigophorea under the old five kingdom paradigm.

A functional system which includes the organisms of a natural community together with their environment. (McGraw Hill Dictionary of Scientific and Technical Terms, 4th ed)

The sequence of transfers of matter and energy from organism to organism in the form of FOOD. Food chains intertwine locally into a food web because most organisms consume more than one type of animal or plant. PLANTS, which convert SOLAR ENERGY to food by PHOTOSYNTHESIS, are the primary food source. In a predator chain, a plant-eating animal is eaten by a larger animal. In a parasite chain, a smaller organism consumes part of a larger host and may itself be parasitized by smaller organisms. In a saprophytic chain, microorganisms live on dead organic matter.

Inland bodies of still or slowly moving FRESH WATER or salt water, larger than a pond, and supplied by RIVERS and streams.

The flow of water in enviromental bodies of water such as rivers, oceans, water supplies, aquariums, etc. It includes currents, tides, and waves.

Divisions of the year according to some regularly recurrent phenomena usually astronomical or climatic. (From McGraw-Hill Dictionary of Scientific and Technical Terms, 6th ed)

Large natural streams of FRESH WATER formed by converging tributaries and which empty into a body of water (lake or ocean).

Porphyrin derivatives containing magnesium that act to convert light energy in photosynthetic organisms.

A huge subclass of mostly marine CRUSTACEA, containing over 14,000 species. The 10 orders comprise both planktonic and benthic organisms, and include both free-living and parasitic forms. Planktonic copepods form the principle link between PHYTOPLANKTON and the higher trophic levels of the marine food chains.

The variety of all native living organisms and their various forms and interrelationships.

The study of the origin, structure, development, growth, function, genetics, and reproduction of organisms which inhabit the OCEANS AND SEAS.

The pattern of any process, or the interrelationship of phenomena, which affects growth or change within a population.

A family of microscopic freshwater EUKARYOTA, commonly known as golden algae. They share many features with the BROWN ALGAE but are planktonic rather than benthic. Though most are photosynthetic, they are not considered truly autotrophic since they can become facultatively heterotrophic in the absence of adequate light. In this state they can feed on BACTERIA or DIATOMS.

One of the three domains of life (the others being BACTERIA and ARCHAEA), also called Eukarya. These are organisms whose cells are enclosed in membranes and possess a nucleus. They comprise almost all multicellular and many unicellular organisms, and are traditionally divided into groups (sometimes called kingdoms) including ANIMALS; PLANTS; FUNGI; and various algae and other taxa that were previously part of the old kingdom Protista.

Number of individuals in a population relative to space.

A class of EUKARYOTA (traditionally algae), characterized by biflagellated cells and found in both freshwater and marine environments. Pigmentation varies but only one CHLOROPLAST is present. Unique structures include a nucleomorph and ejectosomes.

An area of water mostly surrounded by land, usually smaller than a gulf, and affording access to the sea.

A British colony in the western North Atlantic Ocean about 640 miles east southeast of Cape Hatteras, North Carolina. It comprises a group of about 300 islands of which only about 20 are inhabited. It is called also the Bermuda Islands or the Bermudas. It was named for the Spanish explorer Juan Bermudez who visited the islands in 1515. (From Webster's New Geographical Dictionary, 1988, p140 & Room, Brewer's Dictionary of Names, 1992, p61)

A phylum of photosynthetic EUKARYOTA bearing double membrane-bound plastids containing chlorophyll a and b. They comprise the classical green algae, and represent over 7000 species that live in a variety of primarily aquatic habitats. Only about ten percent are marine species, most live in freshwater.

The continent lying around the South Pole and the southern waters of the Atlantic, Pacific, and Indian Oceans. It includes the Falkland Islands Dependencies. (From Webster's New Geographical Dictionary, 1988, p55)

A common name (but used formally) for a group of organisms that are mostly kinds of algae including BACILLARIOPHYTA; OOMYCETES; PHAEOPHYCEAE; and CHRYSOPHYCEAE. They all contain CHLOROPLASTS that are thought to have been derived from the endosymbiosis of ancient RED ALGAE.

A genus of GREEN ALGAE in the family Scenedesmaceae. It forms colonies of usually four or eight cylindrical cells that are widely distributed in freshwater and SOIL.

A phylum of oxygenic photosynthetic bacteria comprised of unicellular to multicellular bacteria possessing CHLOROPHYLL a and carrying out oxygenic PHOTOSYNTHESIS. Cyanobacteria are the only known organisms capable of fixing both CARBON DIOXIDE (in the presence of light) and NITROGEN. Cell morphology can include nitrogen-fixing heterocysts and/or resting cells called akinetes. Formerly called blue-green algae, cyanobacteria were traditionally treated as ALGAE.

Degree of saltiness, which is largely the OSMOLAR CONCENTRATION of SODIUM CHLORIDE plus any other SALTS present. It is an ecological factor of considerable importance, influencing the types of organisms that live in an ENVIRONMENT.

A partially enclosed body of water, and its surrounding coastal habitats, where saltwater from the ocean mixes with fresh water from rivers or streams. The resulting mixture of seawater and fresh water is called brackish water and its salinity can range from 0.5 to 35 ppt. (accessed http://oceanservice.noaa.gov/education/kits/estuaries/estuaries01_whatis.html)

A form-genus of CYANOBACTERIA in the order Chroococcales. Many species are planktonic and possess gas vacuoles.

An order of pelagic, shrimplike CRUSTACEA. Many consume ZOOPLANKTON and a few are predacious. Many antarctic species, such as Euphausia superba, constitute the chief food of other animals.

A body of water covering approximately one-fifth of the total ocean area of the earth, extending amidst Africa in the west, Australia in the east, Asia in the north, and Antarctica in the south. Including the Red Sea and the Persian Gulf, it constitutes the third largest ocean after the ATLANTIC OCEAN and the PACIFIC OCEAN. (New Encyclopaedia Britannica Micropaedia, 15th ed, 1990, p289)

A thick mass of ICE formed over large regions of land; RIVERS; LAKES; ponds; or SEAWATER.

A plant genus of the family PONTEDERIACEAE that is used as a biological filter for treating wastewater.

A family of DNA plant viruses that infect eukaryotic algae.

A suborder of CRUSTACEA, order Diplostraca, comprising the water fleas. They are benthic filter feeders that consume PHYTOPLANKTON. The body is laterally compressed and enclosed in a bivalved carapace, from which the head extends.

The presence of bacteria, viruses, and fungi in water. This term is not restricted to pathogenic organisms.

Toxic or poisonous substances elaborated by marine flora or fauna. They include also specific, characterized poisons or toxins for which there is no more specific heading, like those from poisonous FISHES.

The monitoring of the level of toxins, chemical pollutants, microbial contaminants, or other harmful substances in the environment (soil, air, and water), workplace, or in the bodies of people and animals present in that environment.

The processes by which organisms utilize organic substances as their nutrient sources. Contrasts with AUTOTROPHIC PROCESSES which make use of simple inorganic substances as the nutrient supply source. Heterotrophs can be either chemoheterotrophs (or chemoorganotrophs) which also require organic substances such as glucose for their primary metabolic energy requirements, or photoheterotrophs (or photoorganotrophs) which derive their primary energy requirements from light. Depending on environmental conditions some organisms can switch between different nutritional modes (AUTOTROPHY; heterotrophy; chemotrophy; or PHOTOTROPHY) to utilize different sources to meet their nutrients and energy requirements.

Increase in the temperature of the atmosphere near the Earth's surface and in the troposphere, which can contribute to changes in global climate patterns.

Inland bodies of standing FRESHWATER usually smaller than LAKES. They can be man-made or natural but there is no universal agreement as to their exact size. Some consider a pond to be a small body of water that is shallow enough for sunlight to reach the bottom.

The gaseous envelope surrounding a planet or similar body. (From Random House Unabridged Dictionary, 2d ed)

A diverse genus of minute freshwater CRUSTACEA, of the suborder CLADOCERA. They are a major food source for both young and adult freshwater fish.

Any significant change in measures of climate (such as temperature, precipitation, or wind) lasting for an extended period (decades or longer). It may result from natural factors such as changes in the sun's intensity, natural processes within the climate system such as changes in ocean circulation, or human activities.

Devices, manned and unmanned, which are designed to be placed into an orbit about the Earth or into a trajectory to another celestial body. (NASA Thesaurus, 1988)

The synthesis by organisms of organic chemical compounds, especially carbohydrates, from carbon dioxide using energy obtained from light rather than from the oxidation of chemical compounds. Photosynthesis comprises two separate processes: the light reactions and the dark reactions. In higher plants; GREEN ALGAE; and CYANOBACTERIA; NADPH and ATP formed by the light reactions drive the dark reactions which result in the fixation of carbon dioxide. (from Oxford Dictionary of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, 2001)

Poisoning from toxins present in bivalve mollusks that have been ingested. Four distinct types of shellfish poisoning are recognized based on the toxin involved.

A genus of marine planktonic CYANOBACTERIA in the order PROCHLOROPHYTES. They lack PHYCOBILISOMES and contain divinyl CHLOROPHYLL, a and b.

The longterm manifestations of WEATHER. (McGraw-Hill Dictionary of Scientific and Technical Terms, 6th ed)

A group of the proteobacteria comprised of facultatively anaerobic and fermentative gram-negative bacteria.