Q 01/05

The word 'plankton' comes from a Greek word meaning what?

A) Drifter or wanderer

B) Glowing water

C) Tiny floating one

D) Dust of the sea

Answer · why

A) Drifter or wanderer

Plankton are defined by their inability to swim against currents, not by what species they are.

Q 02/05

What is a single individual plankton organism called?

A) A planktoid

B) A plankton

C) A plankter

D) A planktid

Answer · why

C) A plankter

And the study of plankton is planktology.

Q 03/05

Which German marine biologist coined the word 'plankton' in 1887?

A) Karl Möbius

B) Ernst Haeckel

C) Victor Hensen

D) Alexander von Humboldt

Answer · why

C) Victor Hensen

He shortened 'halyplankton', from the Greek for 'sea' and 'I drift', and founded quantitative biological oceanography.

Q 04/05

Organisms such as fish and squid that can swim against currents, unlike plankton, are called what?

A) Benthos

B) Seston

C) Nekton

D) Neuston

Answer · why

C) Nekton

Bottom-dwellers are the benthos.

Q 05/05

Roughly what share of Earth's oxygen production comes from phytoplankton?

A) About a quarter

B) About 90%

C) About 10%

D) About half

Answer · why

D) About half

They do this despite making up only about 1% of global plant biomass.