Summary
Plankton are tiny drifting living things -- and they feed nearly the whole ocean while making much of the oxygen we breathe. Deep Look zooms in on these small wonders at the base of the sea's food web.
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All ages
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Teaching resources
Discussion questions
Talk about it
Tiny plankton use sunlight to make food and are eaten by larger animals, passing energy up the ocean food web. Small as they are, they support nearly all sea life and make oxygen too.
- What are plankton, and why do they matter so much?
- How does energy move from plankton to bigger ocean animals?
- Why is the base of a food web so important?
Quick work-a-long
Vocabulary: plankton, food web, energy, ecosystem.
Try it: Draw an ocean food web starting with plankton. Add two arrows to bigger animals and write what each arrow means.