A Survey of Chrysophyte Ultraplankton from the Open Oceans

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Ultraplankton provide 70-80% of the primary productivity of the open oceans. There are three major groups of ultraplankton (1) prokaryotic organisms; (2) green algae; and (3) golden algae. The PI proposes to survey the North Atlantic and North Pacific oceans for ultraplankton members of the two protistan classes of golden algae---Chrysophyta and Prymnesiophyta, to produce whole mounts and sectioned materials, to culture the collected specimens, to study these specimens and cultures---and cultures already in-hand --- using electron microscopy. These taxa are seldom collected and even fewer are in culture. Consequently, little is known about their biology, in spite of their significance in world primary production. This study should begin to rectify that lack of knowledge by cataloging the species and making them available for in-depth studies.