Nanophytoplankton Nanophytoplankton Nanophytoplankton are particularly small phytoplankton with sizes between 2 and 20 µm. They are the autotrophic part of nanoplankton. Like other phytoplankton, nanophytoplankton are microscopic organisms that obtain energy through the process of photosynthesis and must therefore live in the upper sunlit layer of ocean or other bodies of water. These microscopic free-floating organisms, including algae, and cyanobacteria, fix large amounts of carbon which would otherwise be released as carbon dioxide.. The term nanophytoplankton is derived from the far more widely used term nannoplankton/nanoplankton. Phytoplankton form the beginning of the food chain for aquatic animals. Zooplankton and krill feed
Ecology of the San Francisco Estuary but by physiological tolerance to salinity and temperature. The Low Salinity Zone (LSZ) of the San Francisco Estuary constitutes a habitat for a suite of organisms that are specialized to survive in this unique confluence of terrestrial, freshwater, and marine influences. While there are many habitats with distinct ecologies that are part of the estuary (including marine, freshwater, intertidal marsh and benthic mudflat systems) each is linked to the LSZ by export and import of freshwater, nutrients, carbon, and organisms. The distribution and abundance of organisms in the LSZ is dependent upon both abiotic and biotic factors. Abiotic factors include