Library / English Dictionary

PLANKTON

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

 I. (noun) 

Sense 1

Meaning:

The aggregate of small plant and animal organisms that float or drift in great numbers in fresh or salt water

Classified under:

Nouns denoting animals

Hypernyms ("plankton" is a kind of...):

being; organism (a living thing that has (or can develop) the ability to act or function independently)

Meronyms (parts of "plankton"):

copepod; copepod crustacean (minute marine or freshwater crustaceans usually having six pairs of limbs on the thorax; some abundant in plankton and others parasitic on fish)

Meronyms (members of "plankton"):

phytoplankton (photosynthetic or plant constituent of plankton; mainly unicellular algae)

zooplankton (animal constituent of plankton; mainly small crustaceans and fish larvae)

Holonyms ("plankton" is a member of...):

aggregate; congeries; conglomeration (a sum total of many heterogenous things taken together)

Derivation:

planktonic (of or relating to plankton)

Credits

 Context examples: 

A study conducted by researchers from the University of Granada and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) found that rather than living alone, microbial plankton in the ocean come together in complex albeit short-lived communities.

(Study by UGR and MIT reveals microbial plankton live in complex communities, University of Granada)

These findings are very important for our understanding of oceanic food webs because the variety and turnover rate of the plankton communities mean that larger organisms which feed on the plankton will come into contact with different sets of microbes that could contain pathogens and harmful microorganisms.

(Study by UGR and MIT reveals microbial plankton live in complex communities, University of Granada)