MSCI 210 Lecture Notes - Lecture 15: Mixotroph, Green Algae, Chlorophyll
Document Summary
The ocean carbon cycle: phytoplankton are essential--take carbon dioxide out of the atmosphere. Picoplanktonic cyanobacteria: most abundant organism on earth that can take sunlight and make something useful out of it (autotroph, first discovered in 1980s, very small, has chlorophyll, usually counted by flow cytometry. Synechococcus: discovered mid 70s, also has chlorophyll, very small, dominate primary production in open ocean regions. Diatoms: often dominate the phytoplankton community in productive coastal oceans, silica cell wall, grow best in mixed water columns, has pores to allow gas and nutrients to pass through. Dinoflagellates: motile: can migrate vertically, are responsible for harmful algal blooms, they are autotrophic, heterotrophic, and mixotrophic, grow best in stratified water columns, some are bioluminescent. A chemical reaction by which light is produced involves a substrate called luciferin and an enzyme called luciferase, which are sequestered in pockets of the vacuolar membrane. Coccolithophores: skeletal plates, active in carbon and sulfur cycles.
