Editing Zooplankton (section)

==Role in food webs==
Grazing by single-celled zooplankton accounts for the majority of [[organic carbon]] loss from [[marine primary production]].<ref name=MendenDeuer2021>{{cite journal |doi = 10.3389/fmars.2021.695938|doi-access = free|title = Promoting Instrument Development for New Research Avenues in Ocean Science: Opening the Black Box of Grazing|year = 2021|last1 = Menden-Deuer|first1 = Susanne|author-link1=Susanne Menden-Deuer|last2 = Slade|first2 = Wayne Homer|last3 = Dierssen|first3 = Heidi|journal = Frontiers in Marine Science|volume = 8}} [[File:CC-BY icon.svg|50px]] Material was copied from this source, which is available under a [https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License].</ref> However, zooplankton grazing remains one of the key unknowns in global predictive models of carbon flux, the [[marine food web]] structure and ecosystem characteristics, because empirical grazing measurements are sparse, resulting in poor parameterisation of grazing functions.<ref name=Stock2010>{{cite journal |doi = 10.1016/j.dsr.2009.10.006|title = Controls on the ratio of mesozooplankton production to primary production in marine ecosystems|year = 2010|last1 = Stock|first1 = Charles|last2 = Dunne|first2 = John|journal = Deep Sea Research Part I: Oceanographic Research Papers|volume = 57|issue = 1|pages = 95–112|bibcode = 2010DSRI...57...95S}}</ref><ref name=Bisson2020>{{cite journal |doi = 10.3389/fmars.2020.00505|doi-access = free|title = Diagnosing Mechanisms of Ocean Carbon Export in a Satellite-Based Food Web Model|year = 2020|last1 = Bisson|first1 = Kelsey|last2 = Siegel|first2 = David A.|last3 = Devries|first3 = Timothy|journal = Frontiers in Marine Science|volume = 7}}</ref> To overcome this critical knowledge gap, it has been suggested that a focused effort be placed on the development of instrumentation that can link changes in phytoplankton biomass or optical properties with grazing.<ref name=MendenDeuer2021 />

Grazing is a central, rate-setting process in ocean ecosystems and a driver of [[marine biogeochemical cycling]].<ref>{{cite journal |doi = 10.1126/science.1257594|title = Rethinking the marine carbon cycle: Factoring in the multifarious lifestyles of microbes|year = 2015|last1 = Worden|first1 = A. Z.|last2 = Follows|first2 = M. J.|last3 = Giovannoni|first3 = S. J.|last4 = Wilken|first4 = S.|last5 = Zimmerman|first5 = A. E.|last6 = Keeling|first6 = P. J.|journal = Science|volume = 347|issue = 6223|pmid = 25678667|s2cid = 206560125|doi-access = free}}</ref> In all ocean ecosystems, grazing by heterotrophic protists constitutes the single largest loss factor of marine primary production and alters particle size distributions.<ref name="Steinberg12017"/> Grazing affects all pathways of export production, rendering grazing important both for surface and [[Deep carbon cycle|deep carbon]] processes.<ref>{{cite journal |doi = 10.4319/lo.2013.58.1.0173|title = Control of plankton seasonal succession by adaptive grazing|year = 2013|last1 = Mariani|first1 = Patrizio|last2 = Andersen|first2 = Ken H.|last3 = Visser|first3 = André W.|last4 = Barton|first4 = Andrew D.|last5 = Kiørboe|first5 = Thomas|journal = Limnology and Oceanography|volume = 58|issue = 1|pages = 173–184|bibcode = 2013LimOc..58..173M|doi-access = free}}</ref> Predicting central paradigms of ocean ecosystem function, including responses to environmental change requires accurate representation of grazing in global biogeochemical, ecosystem and cross-biome-comparison models.<ref name=Stock2010 /> Several large-scale analyses have concluded that phytoplankton losses, which are dominated by grazing are the putative explanation for annual cycles in phytoplankton biomass, accumulation rates and export production.<ref>{{cite journal |doi = 10.1890/09-1207.1|title = Abandoning Sverdrup's Critical Depth Hypothesis on phytoplankton blooms|year = 2010|last1 = Behrenfeld|first1 = Michael J.|journal = Ecology|volume = 91|issue = 4|pages = 977–989|pmid = 20462113| bibcode=2010Ecol...91..977B }}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |doi = 10.1038/s41467-017-02143-6|title = Floats with bio-optical sensors reveal what processes trigger the North Atlantic bloom|year = 2018|last1 = Mignot|first1 = A.|last2 = Ferrari|first2 = R.|last3 = Claustre|first3 = H.|journal = Nature Communications|volume = 9|issue = 1|page = 190|pmid = 29335403|pmc = 5768750|bibcode = 2018NatCo...9..190M}}</ref><ref name=Bisson2020 /><ref name=MendenDeuer2021 />

<gallery mode="packed" heights="330px" style="float:left;" caption="Pelagic food web">
File:Export Processes in the Ocean from Remote Sensing.jpg| [[Pelagic food web]] and the [[biological pump]]. Links among the ocean's biological pump and pelagic food web and the ability to sample these components remotely from ships, satellites, and autonomous vehicles. Light blue waters are the [[euphotic zone]], while the darker blue waters represent the [[Mesopelagic zone|twilight zone]].<ref>{{cite journal |doi=10.3389/fmars.2016.00022|title=Prediction of the Export and Fate of Global Ocean Net Primary Production: The EXPORTS Science Plan|year=2016|last1=Siegel|first1=David A.|last2=Buesseler|first2=Ken O.|last3=Behrenfeld|first3=Michael J.|last4=Benitez-Nelson|first4=Claudia R.|last5=Boss|first5=Emmanuel|last6=Brzezinski|first6=Mark A.|last7=Burd|first7=Adrian|last8=Carlson|first8=Craig A.|last9=d'Asaro|first9=Eric A.|last10=Doney|first10=Scott C.|last11=Perry|first11=Mary J.|last12=Stanley|first12=Rachel H. R.|last13=Steinberg|first13=Deborah K.|journal=Frontiers in Marine Science|volume=3|doi-access=free}} [[File:CC-BY icon.svg|50px]] Material was copied from this source, which is available under a [https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License].</ref> 
</gallery>

[[File:Seawater constituents generated and altered by herbivorous grazing.jpg|thumb|upright=2| {{center|Schematic of how common seawater constituents, including particulate and dissolved components, could both be generated and altered through the process of herbivorous zooplankton grazing{{hsp}}<ref name=MendenDeuer2021 />}}]]

{{clear}}