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Still others process organic matter including carbohydrate, proteins, and lipids. Ocean crust fungi, like those found around hydrothermal vents, decompose organic matter, and play various roles in manganese and arsenic cycling. [6] Sediment-bound marine fungi played a major role in breaking down oil spilled from the Deepwater Horizons disaster ...
The primary decomposer of litter in many ecosystems is fungi. [11] [12] Unlike bacteria, which are unicellular organisms and are decomposers as well, most saprotrophic fungi grow as a branching network of hyphae. Bacteria are restricted to growing and feeding on the exposed surfaces of organic matter, but fungi can use their hyphae to penetrate ...
The tiny (0.6 μm) marine cyanobacterium Prochlorococcus, discovered in 1986, forms today an important part of the base of the ocean food chain and accounts for much of the photosynthesis of the open ocean [140] and an estimated 20% of the oxygen in the Earth's atmosphere. [141]
The body of some deep water holothurians, such as Enypniastes eximia, Peniagone leander and Paelopatides confundens, [19] is made of a tough gelatinous tissue with unique properties that makes the animals able to control their own buoyancy, making it possible for them to either live on the ocean floor or to actively swim [20] or float over it ...
The species is thought to be native to the Atlantic Ocean and was once known as the Atlantic shipworm, although its exact origin is unknown. [14] The longest marine bivalve, Kuphus polythalamia , was found from a lagoon near Mindanao island in the southeastern part of the Philippines , which belongs to the same group of mussels and clams.
The tiny (0.6 μm) marine cyanobacterium Prochlorococcus, discovered in 1986, forms today an important part of the base of the ocean food chain and accounts for much of the photosynthesis of the open ocean [84] and an estimated 20% of the oxygen in the Earth's atmosphere. [85]
Isopoda is an order of crustaceans.Members of this group are called isopods and include both aquatic species, and terrestrial species such as woodlice.All have rigid, segmented exoskeletons, two pairs of antennae, seven pairs of jointed limbs on the thorax, and five pairs of branching appendages on the abdomen that are used in respiration.
Prime decomposers are bacteria or fungi, though larger scavengers also play an important role in decomposition if the body is accessible to insects, mites and other animals. Additionally, [ 3 ] soil animals are considered key regulators of decomposition at local scales but their role at larger scales is unresolved.