Food web interactions in the plankton

• complex interactions between planktonic organisms (phyto- and zooplankton)
  

• phytoplankton the base of the food web

• small microzooplankton plays an important role as a trophic linh in aquatic food webs

• seasonal and successional occurence of organisms(e.g. dioatom spring blooms)
  

• food quality and food quantity plays a major role for higher trophic levels

 Focus of the Food Web Project

1. Spatio-temporal dynamics in pelagic communities with respect to major abiotic parameters (e.g. temperature, light, nutrients, hydodynamics)
2. Trophic interactions between key species and their prey
3. Trophic pathways within pelagic ecosystems and the role of key components for energy uptake and transfer between the compartments

Outlook- Where to go next?

• Interactions between phytoplankton, microzooplankton and mesozooplankton (trophic upgrading, the role of heterotrophic dinoflagellates and ciliates in phytoplankton grazing)

• Multi-trophic approaches to asses the impact of food quality and the transfer of limitation signal to higher trophic levels

• Bentho-pelagic coupling within marine food webs