Deck 8: Plankton

Question 1

Plankton that spend part of their life cycle in the water column, but live as adults in the benthos, are

A) Mixoplankton
B) Meroplankton
C) Pleuston
D) Holoplankton

Answer 1

B

Question 2

Nanoplankton have a size range of

A) 1-2 micrometers
B) 2-20 micrometers
C) 20-200 micrometers
D) < 1 micrometer

Answer 2

B

Question 3

Which of the following plankton size classes is the largest?

A) Microplankton
B) Picoplankton
C) Femtoplankton
D) Mesoplankton

Answer 3

D

Question 4

Viruses attack and burst cells in the process known as

A) Infection
B) Viral lag phase
C) Lysis
D) Bacteriophage

Question 5

Many planktonic organisms have excesses of ammonium, sodium, and chloride relative to sea water because

A) They must regulate ionic concentrations in estuaries
B) They evolved in the deep sea and retain the chemistry of the deep sea
C) These excesses are substitutions of ions of lower density, which counteracts sinking
D) All of the above

Question 6

Diatoms have a skeleton made of

A) Silica
B) An organic matrix
C) Calcium carbonate
D) Titanium

Question 7

During a cycle of cell division, diatom

A) Body size increases
B) Body size decreases
C) Needs for silica steadily increases
D) Reproduction does not occur

Question 8

Dinoflagellates

A) Usually have two flagellae used for locomotion
B) Include species involved in toxic algal blooms
C) May be heterotrophic
D) All of the above

Question 9

Dinoflagellates

A) Usually appear at the very beginning of the spring
B) Need silica and only occur near coasts with silica rich rocks
C) Usually do not appear in a phytoplankton bloom until other phytoplankton species become abundance in the later winter-spring
D) Only reproduce sexually

Question 10

Nautilus adjusts its vertical position in the water column by means of

A) Gas secretion
B) Use of low-density ions
C) Swimming upward continuously
D) Delicate projections from the shell that prevent sinking

Question 11

During asexual reproduction in diatoms

A) Generation time decreases steadily
B) Part of the silica shell is cast off with each cell division
C) Cell size decreases steadily to a threshold
D) Uniquely among phytoplankton they have resting stages on the bottom

Question 12

Cyanobacteria

A) Are abundant only in estuaries
B) Are capable of nitrogen fixation
C) Cannot live in stagnant waters
D) Only occur in chains of cells

Question 13

Cyanobacteria

A) Only occur as single cells in anoxic surface waters
B) Only occur as thread like colonies in the tropics
C) Occur in a wide array of morphologies
D) Desperately need nitrogen from the dissolved state in surface waters

Question 14

Calanoid copepods are most closely related to

A) Siphonophores
B) Ctenophora
C) Krill
D) Pteropods

Question 15

Calanoid copepods

A) Are restricted to the Pacific Ocean
B) Are the most abundant zooplankton in the sea
C) Live under conditions only dominated by very low Reynolds number
D) Live under conditions only dominated by very high Reynolds number

Question 16

Calanoid copepods are usually

A) In the mesoplankton size range
B) In the femtoplankton size range
C) In the picoplankton size range
D) In the macroplankton size range

Question 17

Siphonophores are notable because

A) They are planktonic gelatinous carnivores
B) They are polymorphic colonies
C) They often have gas-filled floats
D) All of the above

Question 18

Arrow worms

A) Feed upon phytoplankton
B) Maintain symbiotic algae
C) Feed upon bacteria
D) Are carnivores

Question 19

Foraminifera and radiolaria share the following

A) They both secrete tests made of calcium carbonate
B) They both engulf food items with pseudopodia
C) They both lack sexual reproduction
D) They both are found only in high latitudes

Question 20

Planktonic organisms are usually

A) Distributed at random in the water column
B) Found only at the air-water interface
C) Found near the surface during the day and at depth at night
D) Patchily distributed in the water column

Question 21

PCR

A) Is a method to recover plankton in coral reefs
B) Is a method used to amplify DNA, using small sequences as templates
C) Is a new method used to identify plankton by means of immunological markers
D) Will soon be used for the first time to identify marine microbes

Question 22

Siphonophores

A) Have many species of deeper swimming forms
B) Always have a float that suspends them from the surface
C) Are meroplanktonic
D) Feed strictly on bacteria