aerial plankton
air-ee-ul PLANK-tun
The ocean of tiny organisms — ballooning spiders, wind-borne larvae, pollen grains, fungal spores — drifting through the atmosphere above the land. A living suspension, invisible from below, carried by thermals and trade winds to altitudes of thousands of feet.
Etymology
From Greek aēr (air) + planktos (wandering, drifting). The term borrows from marine biology, applying the concept of planktonic drift to the sky.
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