Meaning & use
phytoplankton
Last updated
Meanings
noununcountable
Tiny plants and plant-like organisms that drift in water and form the base of many aquatic food chains.
Grammar: Uncountable: no plural and a singular verb. Say 'phytoplankton is', not 'phytoplankton are'.
Patterns
- phytoplankton in something
- a bloom of phytoplankton
- feed on phytoplankton
Phytoplankton in the ocean produces a large share of the oxygen we breathe.
Scientists measured how much phytoplankton was present in the lake.
Fish and whales depend on phytoplankton as the first link in the food chain.
noununcountabletechnical
A community or sample of these organisms, considered as a group in scientific study.
Grammar: Still uncountable even when referring to a specific group in research contexts.
Patterns
- study phytoplankton
- a sample of phytoplankton
- the phytoplankton community
The team collected phytoplankton from several depths to compare species.
Changes in water temperature can shift which phytoplankton dominate an area.
Her thesis describes the phytoplankton found along the coast in spring.
Common combinations
- phytoplankton bloom
- A sudden phytoplankton bloom turned the bay green.
- marine phytoplankton
- Marine phytoplankton support nearly all ocean life.
- phytoplankton production
- Satellites can estimate phytoplankton production from space.
- phytoplankton population
- The phytoplankton population crashed after the oil spill.
Synonyms and how they differ
- algae
- Algae is a broader term that includes seaweeds and larger plant-like organisms; phytoplankton refers specifically to the microscopic drifting kind.
- microalgae
- Microalgae is a technical word for tiny algae; phytoplankton is used especially when talking about ocean food webs.
Word family
- plankton noun
- The general term for all tiny drifting organisms, both plant-like and animal-like.
- zooplankton noun
- The animal part of plankton, which often feeds on phytoplankton.
Commonly confused: phytoplankton or zooplankton?
phytoplankton vs zooplankton
Zooplankton are tiny animals that drift in water, while phytoplankton are the plant-like organisms they often eat.
Practice
Which sentence uses 'phytoplankton' correctly?
Choose one answer.
'Phytoplankton' is uncountable and takes a singular verb, so 'Phytoplankton is...' is correct. Options 0 and 1 describe the wrong organism, and option 3 wrongly adds a plural -s to an uncountable noun.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “phytoplankton”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.