Plankton: wonders of the drifting world

Prologue / by Mark Ohman

Introduction. Plankton : a drifting world. What are plankton? ; Plankton and man ; The origins : life shapes the planet ; Explosions, extinctions, and evolution of life in the ocean ; Chronological history of the planet and the tree of life ; Taxonomy and phylogeny : hierarchical categorizations ; Organisms of all sizes, with different roles and behavior ; Collecting and identifying plankton, then and now

Plankton of the world. Villefranche-sur-Mer, France : a bay famous for its plankton ; Between Ecuador and Galapagos : Tara Oceans Expedition ; South Carolina, United States : salt marsh estuaries ; Izu Peninsula and Shimoda, Japan : autumn plankton

Unicellular creatures : from the origins of life

Ctenophores and cnidarians : ancestral forms

Crustaceans and mollusks : champions of diversity

Worms and tadpoles : arrows, tubes and nets

Epilogue.