Dinobryon

Last updated

Dinobryon
Mikrofoto.de-Dinobryon divergens.jpg
Dinobryon divergens
Scientific classification OOjs UI icon edit-ltr.svg
Domain: Eukaryota
Clade: Diaphoretickes
Clade: SAR
Clade: Stramenopiles
Phylum: Gyrista
Subphylum: Ochrophytina
Class: Chrysophyceae
Order: Chromulinales
Family: Dinobryaceae
Genus: Dinobryon
Ehrenb. [1]

Dinobryon is a type of microscopic algae. It is one of the 22 genera in the family Dinobryaceae. Dinobryon are mixotrophs, [2] capable of obtaining energy and carbon through photosynthesis and phagotrophy of bacteria. The genus comprises at least 37 described species. [3] The best-known species are D. cylindricum and D. divergens, which come to the attention of humans annually due to transient blooms in the photic zone of temperate lakes and ponds. Such blooms may produce volatile organic compounds (VOCs) that produce odors and affect water quality. [4]

Dinobryon can exist as free-living, solitary cells or in branching colonies.

Ecology

Though most commonly found in freshwater lakes and ponds, Dinobryon have also been documented flourishing in lotic and estuarine habitats. [5]

Large blooms of Dinobryon are documented most commonly in oligo- to meso- trophic temperate lakes and ponds, though they have also been observed in eutrophic waters. [6] Such blooms regularly occur during springtime at the onset of thermal stratification, and commonly occur following a diatom bloom. The blooms are initiated from resting siliceous spores called statospores that lay dormant on the lake bottom through the winter. Increased spring insolation causes them to germinate, producing amoeboid cells that generate two flagella and encase themselves in a vase-like cellulosic lorica. These motile cells rise into photic waters where they proliferate. [5]

Related Research Articles

<i>Volvox</i> Genus of algae

Volvox is a polyphyletic genus of chlorophyte green algae in the family Volvocaceae. Volvox species form spherical colonies of up to 50,000 cells, and for this reason they are sometimes called globe algae. They live in a variety of freshwater habitats, and were first reported by Antonie van Leeuwenhoek in 1700. Volvox diverged from unicellular ancestors approximately 200 million years ago.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Algal bloom</span> Spread of planktonic algae in water

An algal bloom or algae bloom is a rapid increase or accumulation in the population of algae in freshwater or marine water systems. It is often recognized by the discoloration in the water from the algae's pigments. The term algae encompasses many types of aquatic photosynthetic organisms, both macroscopic multicellular organisms like seaweed and microscopic unicellular organisms like cyanobacteria. Algal bloom commonly refers to the rapid growth of microscopic unicellular algae, not macroscopic algae. An example of a macroscopic algal bloom is a kelp forest.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Synurid</span> Group of algae

The synurids are a small group of heterokont algae, found mostly in freshwater environments, characterized by cells covered in silica scales.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Golden algae</span> Class of algae

The Chrysophyceae, usually called chrysophytes, chrysomonads, golden-brown algae or golden algae, are a large group of algae, found mostly in freshwater. Golden algae is also commonly used to refer to a single species, Prymnesium parvum, which causes fish kills.

<i>Nostoc</i> Genus of cyanobacteria

Nostoc, also known as star jelly, troll's butter, spit of moon, fallen star, witch's butter, and witch's jelly, is the most common genus of cyanobacteria found in a variety of both aquatic and terrestrial environments that may form colonies composed of filaments of moniliform cells in a gelatinous sheath of polysaccharides. It may also grow symbiotically within the tissues of plants, providing nitrogen to its host through the action of terminally differentiated cells known as heterocysts. Nostoc is a genus that includes many species that are diverse in morphology, habitat distribution, and ecological function. Nostoc can be found in soil, on moist rocks, at the bottom of lakes and springs, and rarely in marine habitats. It may also be found in terrestrial temperate, desert, tropical, or polar environments.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Characeae</span> A family of freshwater green algae

Characeae is a family of freshwater green algae in the order Charales, commonly known as stoneworts. They are also known as brittleworts or skunkweed, from the fragility of their lime-encrusted stems, and from the foul odor these produce when stepped on.

<i>Aphanizomenon flos-aquae</i> Species of bacterium

Aphanizomenon flos-aquae is a brackish and freshwater species of cyanobacteria of the genus Aphanizomenon found around the world, including the Baltic Sea and the Great Lakes.

<i>Coelastrum</i> Genus of algae

Coelastrum is a genus of green algae in the Scenedesmaceae family. It is a common component of the phytoplankton in freshwater habitats such as ponds, lakes, waterfalls, and temporary pools of water, particularly eutrophic ones. The genus has a more or less cosmopolitan distribution, although some species appear to have more restricted geographical distributions.

<i>Botryococcus</i> Genus of algae

Botryococcus is a genus of green algae. The cells form an irregularly shaped aggregate. Thin filaments connect the cells. The cell body is ovoid, 6 to 10 μm long, and 3 to 6 μm wide. Fossils of the genus are known since Precambrian times, and form the single largest biological contributor to crude oil, and are a major component of oil shales.

<i>Asterococcus</i> Genus of algae

Asterococcus is a genus of green algae in the order Chlamydomonadales. It is planktonic in freshwater ponds and lakes, or benthic within mires and swamps. It is a common and widespread genus, but is rarely abundant.

<i>Pediastrum</i> Genus of algae

Pediastrum is a genus of green algae, in the family Hydrodictyaceae. It is a photoautotrophic, nonmotile coenobial green alga that inhabits freshwater environments.

<i>Selenastrum</i> Genus of algae

Selenastrum is a genus of green algae in the family Selenastraceae. It is common in freshwater habitats around the world. Most species prefer temperate or warm-temperate waters.

<i>Sorastrum</i> Genus of algae

Sorastrum is a genus of green algae in the family Hydrodictyaceae. It is a component of the phytoplankton of freshwater ponds, lakes, and ditches. Sorastrum is common in tropical to temperate regions of the world, but due to its small size it is often overlooked.

<i>Tetraspora</i> Genus of algae

Tetraspora is a genus of green algae in the family Tetrasporaceae of the order Chlamydomonadales, division Chlorophyta. Species of Tetraspora are unicellular green algae that exist in arrangements of four and consist of cells being packaged together in a gelatinous envelope that creates macroscopic colonies. These are primarily freshwater organisms, although there have been few cases where they have been found inhabiting marine environments and even contaminated water bodies. Tetraspora species can be found all around the globe, except in Antarctica. Despite the ubiquitous presence, the greatest growth of the genera's species is seen in the polar climatic zones.

<i>Tetrastrum</i> Genus of algae

Tetrastrum is a genus of green algae (Chlorophyta). It is a common component of the phytoplankton of freshwater habitats, particularly eutrophic and alkaline waters.

<i>Chara</i> (alga) Genus of green algae

Chara is a genus of charophyte green algae in the family Characeae. They are multicellular and superficially resemble land plants because of stem-like and leaf-like structures. They are found in freshwater, particularly in limestone areas throughout the northern temperate zone, where they grow submerged, attached to the muddy bottom. They prefer less oxygenated and hard water and are not found in waters where mosquito larvae are present. They are covered with calcium carbonate (CaCO3) deposits and are commonly known as stoneworts. Cyanobacteria have been found growing as epiphytes on the surfaces of Chara, where they may be involved in fixing nitrogen, which is important to plant nutrition.

<i>Chrysochromulina</i> Genus of single-celled organisms

Chrysochromulina is a genus of haptophytes. This phytoplankton is distributed globally in brackish and marine waters across approximately 60 known species. All Chrysochromulina species are phototrophic, however some have been shown to be mixotrophic, including exhibiting phagotrophy under certain environmental conditions. The cells are small, characterized by having scales, and typically observed using electron microscopy. Some species, under certain environmental conditions have been shown to produce toxic compounds that are harmful to larger marine life including fish.

<i>Hildenbrandia</i> Genus of algae

Hildenbrandia is a genus of thalloid red alga comprising about 26 species. The slow-growing, non-mineralized thalli take a crustose form. Hildenbrandia reproduces by means of conceptacles and produces tetraspores.

<i>Microcystis</i> Genus of bacteria

Microcystis is a genus of freshwater cyanobacteria that includes the harmful algal bloom-forming Microcystis aeruginosa. Many members of a Microcystis community can produce neurotoxins and hepatotoxins, such as microcystin and cyanopeptolin. Communities are often a mix of toxin-producing and nonproducing isolates.

<i>Cochlodinium polykrikoides</i> Species of single-celled organism

Cochlodinium polykrikoides is a species of red tide producing marine dinoflagellates known for causing fish kills around the world, and well known for fish kills in marine waters of Southeast Asia. C. polykrikoides has a wide geographic range, including North America, Central America, Western India, Southwestern Europe and Eastern Asia. Single cells of this species are ovoidal in shape, 30-50μm in length and 25-30μm in width.

References

  1. Guiry, M.D. & Guiry, G.M. 2013. AlgaeBase. World-wide electronic publication, National University of Ireland, Galway. http://www.algaebase.org; searched on 4 March 2013
  2. Caron, David A.; Sanders, Robert W.; Lim, Ee Lin; Marrasé, Celia; Amaral, Linda A.; Whitney, Sheri; Aoki, Rika B.; Porters, Karen G. (1993). "Light-dependent phagotrophy in the freshwater mixotrophic chrysophyte Dinobryon cylindricum". Microbial Ecology. 25 (1): 93–111. doi:10.1007/BF00182132. PMID   24189708.
  3. "WoRMS – World Register of Marine Species – Dinobryon Ehrenberg, 1834". marinespecies.org. Retrieved 11 March 2019.
  4. "The influence of growth conditions on odor-compound production by two chrysophytes and two cyanobacteria". Water Science and Technology. 31 (11). 1995. doi:10.1016/0273-1223(95)00472-y.
  5. 1 2 Armstrong, Gary Dale (1985). Colonies as defence in the freshwater phytoplankton genus Dinobryon (Chrysophyceae) (Thesis). University of British Columbia.
  6. Watson, Sue B.; Whitton, Brian A.; Higgins, Scott N.; Paerl, Hans W.; Brooks, Bryan W.; Wehr, John D. (2015). "Harmful Algal Blooms". Freshwater Algae of North America. pp. 873–920. doi:10.1016/b978-0-12-385876-4.00020-7. ISBN   9780123858764.