What is Plankton and
is it Important to the Bay?

Plankton, the microscopic plants and animals suspended in the water column, are the foundation of the food web in aquatic ecosystems such as Chesapeake Bay. The plankton also represent one of the most direct and profound responses to pollution entering the Bay. In fact, the degree of eutrophication or nutrient enrichment is often gauged by the amount of plankton growth in an aquatic environment.

Because of their critical position at the foundation of the food web, the plankton response to pollution has many ramifications. For example, the increased growth of plankton in response to excessive nutrient additions initiates a chain of events that leads to the adverse symptoms of eutrophication, such as poor water clarity and low dissolved oxygen concentrations and consequently the loss of habitats for living resources.

Because of plankton's fundamental importance to the eutrophication process, limitation of their growth, or production, is often one of the direct targets of management actions. These actions are typically directed at reducing nutrient inputs as a means of limiting plankton growth. The limitation of plankton growth is in turn expected to improve some of the impacts that result from excessive growth. Thus, an assessment of water quality to guide and evaluate management actions logically includes the measurement of plankton communities and their growth rates.

- Bruce Michael, Director
Tidewater Ecosystem Assessment Division
Resource Assessment Service

For more information:
Phytoplankton
Zooplankton
Chesapeake Bay Monitoring "Monitoring for Management Actions" 5. plankton

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