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Русский They are bacteria, viruses and algae, but also jellyfish, fish, crustaceans and other invertebrates. In a word, plankton. From the Greek planktós, meaning "wanderer", "drifter", plankton is a varied universe made up of those organisms that are unable to oppose currents.
They are animals, plants or microbes at the base of the food pyramid, responsible for a large share of the planet's oxygen production and carbon dioxide absorption. A micro-world (rarely macro) with an alien charm, about which we still know little, that affects the food and chemical balances of the environment, but which, like all living beings, is impacted by climate change and its effects, influencing the health of the entire ecosystem, our economy and our culture.
Of all the creatures that inhabit the sea, plankton is perhaps the most discreet and at the same time the most alien. Yet without it, life on Earth as we know it would not exist. We notice it only when it reveals itself through the bioluminescence that lights up ocean nights or through algal blooms that tint the sea red and green, but beyond these spectacular events, plankton remains one of the least known aspects of the ocean.
If it is true that it has fascinated sailors for millennia, it should not be forgotten that plankton is an organism in constant transformation, capable of adapting and resisting the most imposing forces of nature.
Plankton is not just an indistinct nebula of floating, luminous organisms, but a complex assemblage of living beings belonging to different kingdoms: algae and cyanobacteria that produce oxygen and absorb carbon dioxide, small crustaceans and fish larvae that support the food chain, jellyfish and other macroscopic forms that inspire fear and wonder.
A source of nourishment for enormous marine mammals and a powerful regulating engine of the balance of the entire planetary ecosystem.
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They move only by following the flow of the waters, and yet can sometimes be capable of migrating. At times they perform photosynthesis, at other times they feed on other organisms, and at still other times they do both. They consist of a single cell or are so large that they exceed the height of a person. Finally, they may have rigid external membranes, shells or scales, or be made up of a cloud resembling denser, gelatinous water.
