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
Everglades National Park roseate spoonbills ("Platalea ajaja"), ibises and brown pelicans ("Pelecanus occidentalis"), as well as limpkins ("Aramus guarauna") and snail kites that eat apple snails, which in turn feed on the sawgrass. The sloughs' availability of fish, amphibians, and young birds attract a variety of freshwater turtles, alligator ("Alligator mississippiensis"), water moccasin ("Agkistrodon piscivorus conanti"), and eastern diamondback rattlesnake ("Crotalus adamanteus"). Freshwater marl prairies are similar to sloughs but lack the slow movement of surface water; instead, water seeps through a calcitic mud called marl. Algae and other microscopic organisms form periphyton, which attaches to limestone. When it dries it turns into