SS2.03 The Evolution, Ecology and Biogeochemical Impacts of Plankton from the Paleozoic to the Present Organizers: Elena Litchman (litchman@imcs.rutgers.edu) and Antonietta Quigg (aquigg@imcs.rutgers.edu) Study of the historical origins of plankton and the environmental conditions that led to their selection, radiation, and ecological success can provide insights into the feedbacks between plankton and ecological and biogeochemical processes in the present and future oceans. Why have diatoms and coccolithophorids been so ecologically successful? What does their evolutionary history tell us about the history of Earth and the ability of plankton to accommodate to change in the future? What are the most important components of the relationships between zooplankton and phytoplankton? What is their impact on biogeochemical cycles and the rest of aquatic biota? Research that utilizes geological, molecular biological, ecological, and/or modeling approaches to infer the evolution of plankton, describes the present patterns, and predicts future scenarios will be considered in this symposium.

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