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Diel vertical migration

 

 
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Diel vertical migration
 
 
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Diel vertical migration refers to a pattern of movement that some organism
Organism

In biology, an organism is any life thing . In at least some form, all organisms are capable of response to stimulus , reproduction, growth and developmental biology, and maintenance of homeostasis as a stable whole....
s living in the ocean
Ocean

An ocean is a major body of Seawater, and a principal component of the hydrosphere. Approximately 71% of the Earth's surface is covered by ocean, a World Ocean that is customarily divided into several principal oceans and smaller seas....
's photic zone
Photic zone

The photic zone or euphotic zone is the depth of the water in a lake or ocean, that is exposed to sufficient sunlight for photosynthesis to occur....
 undertake each day. The organisms that exhibit this pattern of behaviour range in size from microscopic plankton
Plankton

Plankton consist of any drifting organisms that inhabit the pelagic zone of oceans, seas, or bodies of fresh water. Plankton are defined by their ecological niche rather than their Phylogenetics or taxonomy classification....
 through to much larger nekton
Nekton

Nekton refers to the aggregate of actively swimming aquatic organisms in a body of water able to move independently of water currents. Nekton are contrasted with 'plankton' which refers to the aggregate of passively floating, drifting, or somewhat motile organisms occurring in a body of water, primarily comprising tiny algae and bacteria, s...
 such as fish
Fish

A fish is any marine biology vertebrate animal that is typically ectothermic , covered with scale , and equipped with two sets of paired fins and several unpaired fins....
. Organisms generally undergo diel vertical migration in response to ecological
Ecology

Ecology is the science study of the distribution and Abundance of life and the interactions between organisms and their nature environment ....
 gradient
Gradient

In vector calculus, the gradient of a scalar field is a vector field which points in the direction of the greatest rate of increase of the scalar field, and whose magnitude is the greatest rate of change....
s (resources, prey, predators) in the pelagic zone
Pelagic zone

Any water in the sea that is not close to the bottom is in the pelagic zone. The word pelagic comes from the Greek language p??a??? or p?lagos, which means open sea....
.

In the case of autotrophic
Autotroph

An autotroph is an organism that produces complex organic compounds from simple inorganic molecules using energy from light or inorganic chemical reactions....
 phytoplankton
Phytoplankton

Phytoplankton are the autotrophic component of the plankton community. The name comes from the Greek language words phyton, or "plant", and p?a??t?? , meaning "wanderer" or "drifter"....
, while light
Light

Light, or visible light, is electromagnetic radiation of a wavelength that is Visible spectrum to the human eye , or up to 380?750 nm. In the broader field of physics, light is sometimes used to refer to electromagnetic radiation of all wavelengths, whether visible or not....
 for photosynthesis
Photosynthesis

File:Seawifs global biosphere.jpgPhotosynthesis is a metabolic pathway that converts carbon dioxide into organic compounds, especially sugars, using the energy from sunlight....
 declines exponentially
Exponential decay

A quantity is said to be subject to exponential decay if it decreases at a rate proportional to its value. Symbolically, this can be expressed as the following differential equation, where N is the quantity and ? is a negative and non-negative numbers called the decay constant....
 from the ocean's surface, the availability of nutrient
Nutrient

A nutrient is a chemical that an organism needs to live and grow or a substance used in an organism's metabolism which must be taken in from its environment....
s typically increases down the water column (because of transport by the biological pump
Biological pump

In oceanic biogeochemistry, the biological pump is the sum of a suite of biologically-mediated processes that transport carbon from the surface euphotic zone to the ocean's interior....
).






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Diel vertical migration refers to a pattern of movement that some organism
Organism

In biology, an organism is any life thing . In at least some form, all organisms are capable of response to stimulus , reproduction, growth and developmental biology, and maintenance of homeostasis as a stable whole....
s living in the ocean
Ocean

An ocean is a major body of Seawater, and a principal component of the hydrosphere. Approximately 71% of the Earth's surface is covered by ocean, a World Ocean that is customarily divided into several principal oceans and smaller seas....
's photic zone
Photic zone

The photic zone or euphotic zone is the depth of the water in a lake or ocean, that is exposed to sufficient sunlight for photosynthesis to occur....
 undertake each day. The organisms that exhibit this pattern of behaviour range in size from microscopic plankton
Plankton

Plankton consist of any drifting organisms that inhabit the pelagic zone of oceans, seas, or bodies of fresh water. Plankton are defined by their ecological niche rather than their Phylogenetics or taxonomy classification....
 through to much larger nekton
Nekton

Nekton refers to the aggregate of actively swimming aquatic organisms in a body of water able to move independently of water currents. Nekton are contrasted with 'plankton' which refers to the aggregate of passively floating, drifting, or somewhat motile organisms occurring in a body of water, primarily comprising tiny algae and bacteria, s...
 such as fish
Fish

A fish is any marine biology vertebrate animal that is typically ectothermic , covered with scale , and equipped with two sets of paired fins and several unpaired fins....
. Organisms generally undergo diel vertical migration in response to ecological
Ecology

Ecology is the science study of the distribution and Abundance of life and the interactions between organisms and their nature environment ....
 gradient
Gradient

In vector calculus, the gradient of a scalar field is a vector field which points in the direction of the greatest rate of increase of the scalar field, and whose magnitude is the greatest rate of change....
s (resources, prey, predators) in the pelagic zone
Pelagic zone

Any water in the sea that is not close to the bottom is in the pelagic zone. The word pelagic comes from the Greek language p??a??? or p?lagos, which means open sea....
.

In the case of autotrophic
Autotroph

An autotroph is an organism that produces complex organic compounds from simple inorganic molecules using energy from light or inorganic chemical reactions....
 phytoplankton
Phytoplankton

Phytoplankton are the autotrophic component of the plankton community. The name comes from the Greek language words phyton, or "plant", and p?a??t?? , meaning "wanderer" or "drifter"....
, while light
Light

Light, or visible light, is electromagnetic radiation of a wavelength that is Visible spectrum to the human eye , or up to 380?750 nm. In the broader field of physics, light is sometimes used to refer to electromagnetic radiation of all wavelengths, whether visible or not....
 for photosynthesis
Photosynthesis

File:Seawifs global biosphere.jpgPhotosynthesis is a metabolic pathway that converts carbon dioxide into organic compounds, especially sugars, using the energy from sunlight....
 declines exponentially
Exponential decay

A quantity is said to be subject to exponential decay if it decreases at a rate proportional to its value. Symbolically, this can be expressed as the following differential equation, where N is the quantity and ? is a negative and non-negative numbers called the decay constant....
 from the ocean's surface, the availability of nutrient
Nutrient

A nutrient is a chemical that an organism needs to live and grow or a substance used in an organism's metabolism which must be taken in from its environment....
s typically increases down the water column (because of transport by the biological pump
Biological pump

In oceanic biogeochemistry, the biological pump is the sum of a suite of biologically-mediated processes that transport carbon from the surface euphotic zone to the ocean's interior....
). Consequently, some phytoplankton migrate down the water column at night
Night

Night or nighttime is the period of time when the sun is below the horizon. The opposite of night is day . Time of day varies based on factors such as season, latitude, longitude and timezone....
 to obtain nutrients, but return to the surface during daylight
Daylight

Daylight or the light of day is the combination of all direct and indirect sunlight outdoors during the Daytime . This includes direct sunlight, diffuse sky radiation, and both of these reflected from the Earth and terrestrial objects....
.

By contrast, heterotrophic zooplankton
Zooplankton

Zooplankton are the heterotrophic type of plankton. Plankton are organisms drifting in the Pelagic zone of oceans, seas, and bodies of fresh water....
 and larger animal
Animal

Animals are a major group of multicellular, eukaryotic organisms of the Kingdom Animalia or Metazoa. Their body plan eventually becomes fixed as they develop, although some undergo a process of metamorphosis later on in their life....
s do not usually require light for growth (though some mixotroph
Mixotroph

A mixotrophic organism is one that obtains its electrons from an inorganic electron source , but uses organic matter as a carbon source. Some of these organisms are facultative chemolithotrophs or facultative chemoorganotrophs, and are capable of using either metabolism depending on environmental conditions....
s possess endosymbiont
Endosymbiont

An endosymbiont is any organism that lives within the body or cells of another organism, i.e. forming an endosymbiosis . Examples are nitrogen-fixing bacterium which live in root nodules on legume roots, single-celled algae inside reef-building corals, and bacterial endosymbionts that provide essential nutrients to about 10%?15% of in...
s that do require light). However, in well-lit surface waters (or even the "twilight" conditions of the mesopelagic zone
Pelagic zone

Any water in the sea that is not close to the bottom is in the pelagic zone. The word pelagic comes from the Greek language p??a??? or p?lagos, which means open sea....
) where their prey are most abundant, they may be vulnerable to larger predators
Predation

In ecology, predation describes a biological interaction where a predator feeds on its prey, the organism that is attacked. Predators may or may not kill their prey prior to feeding on them, but the act of predation always results in the death of the prey....
 that hunt by sight
Visual system

The visual system is the part of the central nervous system which allows organisms to visual perception.It interprets the information from visible light to build a representation of the world surrounding the body....
. As a result, some undertake the opposite pattern of diel vertical migration, travelling to the surface during night to feed, then descending to darker, safer depths during the day.

Aside from avoidance of predators, deeper waters are also cooler. During periods when food is relatively scarce (i.e. away from spring bloom
Spring bloom

The spring bloom is a sudden and strong bloom of phytoplankton such as diatoms or dinoflagellates in the spring in temperate and sub-polar bodies of water....
s), visits to these lower temperature waters slows the metabolism
Metabolism

Metabolism is the set of chemical reactions that occur in living organisms in order to maintain life. These processes allow organisms to grow and reproduce, maintain their structures, and respond to their environments....
 of organisms, allowing them to subsist on a lower dietary
Diet (nutrition)

In nutrition, the diet is the sum of food consumed by a person or other organism. Dietary habits are the habitual decisions an individual or culture makes when choosing what foods to eat....
 intake.

See also

  • Algal bloom
    Algal bloom

    An algal bloom is a rapid increase in the population of algae in an aquatic system. Algal blooms may occur in freshwater as well as marine environments....
  • Phytoplankton
    Phytoplankton

    Phytoplankton are the autotrophic component of the plankton community. The name comes from the Greek language words phyton, or "plant", and p?a??t?? , meaning "wanderer" or "drifter"....
  • Plankton
    Plankton

    Plankton consist of any drifting organisms that inhabit the pelagic zone of oceans, seas, or bodies of fresh water. Plankton are defined by their ecological niche rather than their Phylogenetics or taxonomy classification....
  • Primary production
    Primary production

    Primary production is the production of organic compounds from atmospheric or aquatic carbon dioxide, principally through the process of photosynthesis, with chemosynthesis being much less important....