What is micropatchiness, and what factors give rise to micropatchiness in the open sea? What will ...

Micropatchiness is the phenomenon whereby planktonic organisms along with microorganisms such as bacteria congregate around slowly sinking organic particles of marine snow. The bacteria will first colonize the marine snow. This attracts phytoplankton, which make use of the nutrients released by the decomposing activities of bacteria. Finally, zooplankton are attracted by the enriched marine snow as a food source as well as by the abundant phytoplankton. The ultimate result is that in the open ocean where nutrients are scarce, planktonic organisms are more concentrated around sinking particles that they are in the surrounding water, thus creating patches.