Pleuston
Encyclopedia
Pleuston are the organisms that live in the thin surface layer existing at the air-water interface of a body of water as their habitat
. Examples include some cyanobacteria, some gastropods, the fern
s Azolla and Salvinia
and the seed plants Lemna
, Wolffia
, Pistia
, Eichornia and Hydrocharis
. The term pleuston was first used by Carl Schroeter in 1896.
Habitat
* Habitat , a place where a species lives and grows*Human habitat, a place where humans live, work or play** Space habitat, a space station intended as a permanent settlement...
. Examples include some cyanobacteria, some gastropods, the fern
Fern
A fern is any one of a group of about 12,000 species of plants belonging to the botanical group known as Pteridophyta. Unlike mosses, they have xylem and phloem . They have stems, leaves, and roots like other vascular plants...
s Azolla and Salvinia
Salvinia
Salvinia, a genus in the family Salviniaceae, is a floating fern named in honor of Antonio Maria Salvini, a 17th Century Italian scientist. The genus was published by Séguier, in Pl. Veron. 3: 52. 1754. About ten species exist....
and the seed plants Lemna
Lemna
Lemna is a genus of free-floating aquatic plants from the duckweed family. These rapidly-growing plants have found uses as a model system for studies in community ecology, basic plant biology, in ecotoxicology, in production of biopharmaceuticals, and as a source of animal feeds for agriculture...
, Wolffia
Wolffia
Wolffia is a genus of 9 to 11 species which include the smallest flowering plants on Earth. Commonly called watermeal or duckweed, these aquatic plants resemble specks of cornmeal floating on the water. Wolffia species are free-floating thalli, green or yellow-green, and without roots. The flower...
, Pistia
Pistia
Pistia is a genus of aquatic plant in the arum family, Araceae. The single species it comprises, Pistia stratiotes, is often called water cabbage, water lettuce, or Nile cabbage. Its native distribution is uncertain, but probably pantropical; it was first described from the Nile near Lake Victoria...
, Eichornia and Hydrocharis
Hydrocharis
Hydrocharis is a genus of aquatic plants within the family Hydrocharitaceae.The best known species is Hydrocharis morsus-ranae, commonly called common or European frogbit, and occasionally water-poppy. The name "American frogbit" refers to another aquatic plant, Limnobium spongia....
. The term pleuston was first used by Carl Schroeter in 1896.