Service Provision "BMO-OOP"

The ocean is a vast ecosystem that supports incredible biodiversity, including microscopic organisms such as phytoplankton and zooplankton. These organisms play fundamental roles in marine food webs, influencing the biodiversity and health of ocean ecosystems. Cetaceans, in the Azores, are the conspicuous face of marine biodiversity, an important component of regional identity and which most attract visitors to the archipelago. However, most students and/or visitors are unaware that these giants of the sea that contribute so much to the local economy depend largely on small forms of life. that live in the water column, the plankton. The aim of this activity, which will be developed together with Picos de Aventura, is to demonstrate the existence of the diversity of forms that we can find in the ocean for which plankton sampling will be carried out during whale whatching and observation activities and in laboratory with optical microscopy.