Planktology is the science and teaching about organisms that float in the ocean and freshwater, which are labeled plankton. It is a section of oceanography. it is also covering topics like primary production, predator prey relationships[?] and energy flow[?]. Especially the flow of carbon is a hot issue in the last years. Plankton drives the "biological pump", a process by which carbon is transported to the abyss by the help of the physiology of the organisms. Such processes are important in the discussions about carbon sequestration, a big hope to catch some of the carbon which is currently accumulating in the atmosphere due to anthropogenic[?] combustion of fossil fuel (Anthropogenic global warming). Modern planktology also includes now more and more the behavioral aspects of the life adrift, engaging modern in situ[?] imaging devices, like in the LEO project, some even allowing the public to participate online.
composed image with phytoplankton and zooplankton
- Famous planktologists:
- Victor Hensen (http://www.awi-bremerhaven.de/Polar/victorhensen.html)
- Karl Banse[?]
- Johannes Krey[?]
- Jürgen Lenz[?]
- Gotthilf Hempel (http://arc.cs.odu.edu:8080/dp9/getrecord/oai_dc/oai:UnivOldenburgBIS:1071878)
- Paul Falkowski (http://marine.rutgers.edu/ebme/html_docs/staff/pfalko.html)
- Sayed ElSayed[?]
is often spelled falsely as planctology