Description
Book SynopsisAsk anyone to picture a bird or a fish and a series of clear images will immediately come to mind. Ask the same person to picture plankton and most would have a hard time conjuring anything beyond a vague squiggle or a greyish fleck. This book explains the biological underpinnings of each species while connecting them to the larger living world.
Trade Review"A stunningly beautiful work of art that is sure to draw the reader into this world typically missed by all but a few oceanographers and marine biologists." -Karen Osborn, Smithsonian Institution National Museum of Natural History
Table of ContentsPrologue, by Mark Ohman Introduction. Plankton: Wonders of the Drifting World What Are Plankton? Plankton and Man The Origins: Life Shapes the Planet Explosions, Extinctions, and Evolution of Life in the Ocean A Chronological History of the Planet and the Tree of Life Taxonomy and Phylogeny: Hierarchical Categorizations Organisms of All Sizes, with Different Roles and Behavior Collecting and Identifying Plankton, Then and Now Plankton of the World Villefranche-sur-Mer, France: A Bay Famous for Its Plankton Between Ecuador and Galapagos: Tara Oceans Expedition South Carolina, United States: Salt Marsh Estuaries Izu Peninsula and Shimoda, Japan: Autumn Plankton Unicellular Creatures: From the Origins of Life Bacteria, Archaea, and Viruses: Invisible but Omnipresent Unicellular Protists: Precursors of Plants and Animals Phytoplankton Coccolithophores and Foraminifera: Limestone Architects Diatoms and Dinoflagellates: Silicate or Cellulose Houses Radiolarians: Polycystines and Acantharians: Symbiosis at the Ocean Surface Ciliates, Tintinnids, and Choanoflagellates: Motility and Multicellularity Ctenophores and Cnidarians: Ancestral Forms Ctenophores: Carnivorous Comb Jellies Jellyfish: Equipped to Survive Siphonophores: The Longest Animals in the World Velella, Porpita, and Physalia: Planktonic Sailors Crustaceans and Mollusks: Champions of Diversity Crustacean Larvae: Molting and Metamorphosis Copepods to Amphipods: Variations on a Theme Phronima: Monster in a Barrel Pteropods and Heteropods: Mollusks That Swim with Their Feet Cephalopods and Nudibranchs: Beautiful Colors and Camouflage Worms and Tadpoles: Arrows, Tubes, and Nets Chaetognaths: Arrows in the Oceans Polychaete Annelids: Worms in the Sea Salps, Doliolids, and Pyrosomes: Highly Evolved Gelatinous Animals Larvaceans: Tadpoles That Live in a Net Embryos and Larvae Epilogue Acknowledgments Bibliography, Websites Credits Index
