Thursday, November 24, 2011

MARINE PLANKTON DIATOMS OF THE WEST COAST OF NORTH AMERICA


http://escholarship.org/uc/item/922945w8

MARINE PLANKTON DIATOMS OF THE WEST COAST OF NORTH AMERICA
BY EASTER E. CUPP

Volume 5, No.1, pp. 1 - 238,
Submitted by editors December 26, 1940
Issued March 13, 1943

Pg 33

"IMPORTANCE OF DIATOMS AS A SOURCE OF FOOD IN THE SEA

Diatoms have for many years been recognized as an extremely important source of food for plankton animals. Haeckel (1890), Johnstone (1908), Lohmann (1911), Gran (1912, 1930, 1931), Lebour (1921, 1922, 1923), Herdman (1923), Bigelow (1926), and Allen (1934b) have published valuable discussions of the problems involved in the abundance of life in the sea. Johnstone (1908) stated: “The Diatomaceae are above all the most important organisms in the sea regarded from the point of view of their significance as the producers of organic substance. The diatoms are the ‘pastures of the sea’ and correspond to the ‘grass of the fields’ of the land.” Gran (1930) wrote: “These enormous
quantities of diatoms, without doubt, are the most important food for the pelagic copepods and indirectly for the fish larvae which develop after the great spring spawning period.” Phifer (1933) likewise wrote: “Marine plants are the principal source upon which the fauna of the oceans depends for the energy necessary for existence. . . . Undoubtedly the shore algae produce organic material forming nutritive substances for bacteria which in turn are probably consumed by small protozoa. However, the phytoplankton are directly consumed and produce organic food in much larger quantities since the areal extent of their distribution is many times greater than that of the shore forms. Of the groups in the phytoplankton, such as diatoms, dinoflagellates, algal spores, coccolithophores, the first mentioned play the major role in temperate seas.” "

Diatoms were thoroughly studied from 19th Century but unfortunately the knowledge is not being used today to solve problems of water pollution and climate change.