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# phytoplankton

«phytoplankton» in Mova's school dictionary: **tiny living things, mostly too small to see, that float…** — its meaning for a pupil, its sense in the lessons and examples.

### part of speech

noun (phytoplankton — usually uncountable, plural meaning)

### meaning for a pupil

Phytoplankton are tiny living things, mostly too small to see, that float near the surface of seas and lakes and make their own food from sunlight, like plants do. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/P/phytoplankton/#m1)

### sense in the lessons

In science lessons on food chains and the ocean, phytoplankton are producers: they are eaten by zooplankton, which are eaten by fish, and so on up to whales. They make a large part of the oxygen we breathe, perhaps about half. Satellites can see big green «blooms» of phytoplankton from space. Common phrases: «phytoplankton bloom», «marine phytoplankton», «phytoplankton and zooplankton».

### examples

- Phytoplankton float near the surface of the sea. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/P/phytoplankton/#x1)
- Phytoplankton use sunlight to make food, just like plants. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/P/phytoplankton/#x2)
- Tiny animals called zooplankton eat phytoplankton. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/P/phytoplankton/#x3)
- Ocean phytoplankton make about half of the Earth's oxygen. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/P/phytoplankton/#x4)
- A phytoplankton bloom turned the sea green. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/P/phytoplankton/#x5)
- Krill feed on phytoplankton, and whales eat krill. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/P/phytoplankton/#x6)
- Without phytoplankton, ocean food chains would collapse. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/P/phytoplankton/#x7)

### note

Usually used like a plural or uncountable noun («phytoplankton are» or «phytoplankton is»). Say FIE-toe-PLANK-ton. «Phyto-» means plant; «zoo-» means animal; «plankton» means drifting. Trap: many phytoplankton are not true plants, but they live like plants.

### Trees and pragmatics

[Every meaning and example of «phytoplankton» parsed by Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/P/phytoplankton/), each sentence with its dependency tree and frames.