Mixoplankton

A mixoplankton is a mixotrophic plankton, capable of both photosynthesis and predation. That is, it is a plankton that can use a mix of different sources of energy and carbon, instead of having a single trophic mode on the continuum from complete autotrophy at one end to heterotrophy at the other. It is estimated that mixoplankton comprise more than half of all microscopic plankton. There are two types of mixoplankton: those with their own chloroplasts, and those with endosymbionts—and others that acquire them through kleptoplasty or by enslaving the entire phototrophic cell.

This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is available under Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 unless otherwise noted. Additional terms may apply for the media files.