The main focus of research will be to see the relationship between the abundance in plankton (or chlorophyll a), temperature, depth at which sunlight reaches (photic zone) and dissolved oxygen. The research will investigate if there is a correlation between the amount of chlorophyll a, temperature, photic zone and dissolved oxygen.
Chlorophyll a is used to measure the abundance and variety of microscopic plants or algae that form the base of the food chain, or simply known as plankton. Plankton is the base of marine life. There are three basic types of plankton, which are phytoplankton, zooplankton and bacteria. Many organisms in the sea usually star out their lives as plankton. Phytoplankton is photosynthetic organisms and zooplanktons are animals. Phytoplanktons carry out photosynthesis and are the basis of the food chain in the ocean. Zooplanktons are heterotrophic consumers and the bacteria decompose organic matter into non-living matter. Key planktons are diatoms, dinoflagellates, coccolithophores, phytoflagellates and photosynthetic bacteria.1
Diatoms have rigid cell walls and consist of two closely fitting halves. They protect internal plant matter within glass walls. These algae are single c