Définitions et usages de : Aeroplankton - Dictionnaire de anglais sensagent

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Aeroplankton

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Aeroplankton (or aerial plankton) is the term used to describe the tiny lifeforms which float and drift in the air, carried by the current of the wind; it is the atmospheric analogue to oceanic plankton.

Detail of the formation of a dense but absolutely normal aeroplankton cloud at sunset, over the Loire river in France (early August 2010)

On the banks of the Loire, the luminarys of the lighting (by the bridge of Briare) trap a large number of individuals of key species of insects comprising the air plankton. It is one of the problems posed by the Light pollution

Effect of ecological fragmentation of nighttime environment caused by light pollution, which attracts and trap aeroplankton (easily trapped by bats and spiders) here in one of the 6 lamps illuminating the bridge Meun-sur-Loire (August 2010). The break allows to distinguish the path and speed of insects (and the number of beats of wings for the largest of them)

Snapshot (with flash) showing better on the same site as above, and at the same time the different sizes of insects attracted by the light

Most of the living things that make up aeroplankton are very small to microscopic in size, and many can be difficult to identify because of their tiny size. Scientists can collect them for study in traps and sweep nets from airplanes, kites or balloons.^[1]

The aeroplankton comprises numerous microbes, including viruses, about 1000 different species of bacteria, around 40,000 varieties of fungi, and hundreds of species of protists, algae, mosses and liverworts that live some part of their life cycle as aeroplankton, often as spores, pollen, and wind-scattered seeds.

A large number of small animals, mainly arthropods (such as insects and spiders), are also carried upwards into the atmosphere by air currents and may be found floating several thousand feet up.

Aphids, for example, are frequently found at high altitudes.
Many species of spiders deliberately use the wind to propel themselves around an area. The spider will find a vantage point (such as a branch, fence or surface) and, pointing its abdomen upward, eject fine threads of silk from the spinnerets. At some point, the friction of the air upon the silk thread(s) is great enough to get the spider lifted into the air and carried off by the breeze. This is called ballooning. Ballooning spiders (see Linyphiidae) are capable of drifting many miles away from where they started. The flexibility of their silk draglines can aid the aerodynamics of their flight, causing the spiders to drift an unpredictable and sometimes long distance [1].

References

^ A. C. Hardy and P. S. Milne (1938) Studies in the Distribution of Insects by Aerial Currents. Journal of Animal Ecology, 7(2):199-229

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Living on the air

Plankton

About plankton

By size

Bacterioplankton

Phytoplankton

Auxospore Axodine Chaetoceros Chaetocerotaceae Coccolithophore Emiliania huxleyi Eustigmatophyte Frustule Heterokont Nannochloropsis Navicula Prasinophyceae Raphidophyte Thalassiosira pseudonana

Diatom orders	Centrales Pennales (Classes: Coscinodiscophyceae Fragilariophyceae Bacillariophyceae)

Flagellates

Zooplankton

Chaetognatha Ciguatera Ctenophora Gelatinous zooplankton Hunting copepods Ichthyoplankton Jellyfish Marine larvae Crustacean larvae Salmon louse Sea louse

Copepod orders	Calanoida Cyclopoida Harpacticoida Monstrilloida Poecilostomatoida Siphonostomatoida More...

Significations et usages de Aeroplankton

Définition

Aeroplankton

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References

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