Plankton Lab
Grades 4-12

Plankton is the basis of the marine food web in Puget Sound.  These drifting plants and animals are usually so tiny they can only be seen with a microscope.  During this lab, students collect plankton from our dock and use their own microscope to discover the life teaming in a drop of water.  They identify and draw several of the organisms in their sample. 

Discussion topics (tailored to grade level) cover important phytoplankton and zooplankton groups observed including larval forms of common marine animals; adaptations of planktonic organisms; and the important contribution of plankton to the marine ecosystem.

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