PHYTOPLANKTON Natural history BOTTOM OF THE Introduction Cultural significance Marine phytoplankton are single-celled organisms that grow and develop in the upper water column of oceans and in polar FOOD WEB The species that make up the base of the marine food Seasonal blooms of phytoplankton serve to con- sea ice. [...] In addition, new species of phytoplankton have been found in the Arctic, including a species baleen whales, which filter the water to capture the ic due to climate change, the shells of crustaceans and previously known only in the Pacific Ocean, suggesting that the community structure is also changing as a result of climate nutrient-rich zooplankton. [...] The corals described in this chapter Given the importance of phytoplankton and its vulnerabil- on corals and sponges; however, their ecological function is been found to be used for the deposition of fish larvae, are those that have most frequently been collected in ity to changing sea ice cover and land-based nutrients, more relatively well understood and mirrors the function of corals potentiall. [...] They were considered for a long time to inhabit both polar species Onisimus litoralis and Onisimus glacialis are follows the sea ice cover and is particularly abundant In general, information on the ecology and life cycles of most regions, but further investigations revealed that the species found in among the most abundant Gammaridae in sea ice and below multi-year ice. [...] The two and surface layers of the ocean to the sea floor.major food source for fishes, seabirds, and marine mam- most abundant in the Canadian Arctic are Limacina helicina, a shelled mals in the Canadian Arctic.
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