Plankton Study

Intro:

1. What is Plankton?
   Plankton is a tiny microscopic creature that can not swim against the currents of the ocean but rather is pushed by the waters. There are two main types of plankton, zooplankton (animal plankton) and phytoplankton (plant plankton). Each of these creatures can be eaten by other larger fish that live in the sea.
   


2. Why is Plankton Important?
   Our oceans are full of plankton, even when we can't see them. Because of this many larger fish require plankton in order to maintain a healthy diet. Plankton is the creature that tends to rule the food chain they are what keeps the food chain in order with out plankton many animals would die.
   


3. Why did we Study Plankton? We study plankton this quarter because it is an important part of understanding the ocean, the tide pool, and the food chain of ocean animals.

Research:
For this project our class went to the Kihei Boat Ramp, located in Kihei, Hawaii. At the boat ramp we took samples of plankton, along with the salinity, temperature, and turbidity of the water.

Results:
What I discovered from this sampling. As a group we were able to catch indigenous plankton located at the Kihei Boat Ramp, after leaving them in the refrigerator over night we observed the sample to come up with an average of the amount of plankton that were living in our sample. Some of the sampling may have been not as accurate due to the fact that the plankton were taken our of their natural setting and place in a new environment. Over all the sampling was a success and we were able to learn more about Maui's plankton.