[Plankton. Credit: Dr. D. P. Wilson.]

We cannot say I am not going to give a damn about phytoplankton. All these tiny mechanisms provide the preconditions of our planetary life. To say we do not care is to say in the most literal sense that “We Choose Death.”

~~Anon

In my long and storied career as a science teacher, I taught almost all the common topics found in the usual curriculums. The exceptions, of course, are the so-called hard sciences such as Physics and Chemistry (and AP Biology). That is because I never understood the fundamentals of these topics. Of course I know the Physics equation F=Ma. I mean, who doesn’t know that? That’s about all you need to know to get by teaching it for a semester. Same thing with Chemistry. If you know the basics of the Periodic Table, you’re good to make it until Thanksgiving vacation, at the very least. Then you have time to brush up on Titration and Molarity. AP Biology? The Krebs Cycle is good until Christmas. After that you’re on your own. Time to fire up ChatGBT to cough up a few dozen lesson plans.

But, I digress.

To parents: If you haven’t talked to your children about phytoplankton by the time they reach puberty, get with it.

To children: If you haven’t asked mom (or mom’s new boyfriend) about zooplankton, then man up and go for it.

So, let me help everyone out. The basics are quite simple. Plankton are tiny living things that drift around in the ocean. If they contain chlorofyll, they are Phytopankton. If they don’t, they are animal plankton–Zooplankton. There is third type, called Bacterioplankton. They live in the ocean as stated. I would add illustrations of each type, but in reality, they pretty much look like the photo shown above. Phytoplankton, however, would be greenish. They don’t need to feed on other types, they make their own food (photosynthesis).

[The various shapes of Plankton. Source: istockphoto.com]

There are other ways to classify plankton. One list: Marine, Freshwater, Aero and Geoplankton. These are a bit beyond the scope of this narrative. I suggest you Google these topics and read.

But, on a more serious and vital note, it is not hyperbole to state that plankton is the foundation of all life on earth. The entire food chain is dependent on these microorganisms. I’m a visual learner, so I would struggle to get through what I’m about to describe. Bear with me.

Phytoplankton are eaten by zooplankton. These, in turn, are eaten by Krill and Penguins. Following the Krill, they are consumed by Squid, Whales and Seagulls. This chain works its way into seafood that humans eat. And the amount of seafood that we are dining on is increasing at an alarming rate.

Time to leave the heavy science behind and appreciate the most odd and interesting facts about our little friends.

Some fun facts:

~The cell walls of plankton is made of silica. That’s glass.

~500,000,000 years ago, a bloom of plankton altered the earth’s atmosphere, making it oxygen-rich.

~The size of zooplankton can vary from microscopic to a giant jellyfish.

~The word plankton is from the Greek word meaning wanderer.

Plankton can also be awesome in its beauty. Here are two images of Bioluminescent plankton:

[From the Maldives. Source: istockphoto.com.]

[Again, the Maldives. Same source as above.]

I can only imagine what it must be like, standing on the beach shown above…at midnight…watching the stars and the luminous plankton dance, beneath the diamond sky with one hand twirling free…

And, finally, the famous White Cliffs of Dover, are made of uncountable bodies of plankton that had died and fell to the seafloor, and impossibly lifted with the earth’s crust to form this legendary landmark.

[The White Cliffs. Photo is mine.]

So, go swim in the sea. Surf. Sail. Snorkel, Scuba, whatever. But, know your place in the vast scheme of things and appreciate the nearly infinite number of tiny drifting lifeforms that make your existence possible.

{Note: Most of the information in this post was taken from an article in the Weekend Edition of the Adirondack Daily Enterprise. Sat. August 31, 2024. The other bits were things I remembered from my storied days as a science teacher. }