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Dinoflagellates are mostly marine plankton, but they are also common in freshwater habitats. Their populations vary with sea surface temperature, salinity, and depth. Many dinoflagellates are photosynthetic, but a large fraction of these are in fact mixotrophic, combining photosynthesis with ingestion of prey (phagotrophy and myzocytosis). [6] [7]
Many species of dinoflagellates were previously assumed to be exclusively autotrophic; however, recent research has revealed that many dinoflagellates that were thought to be exclusively phototrophic are actually mixotrophic. [12] Mixotrophic dinoflagellates can undergo both photosynthesis and phagocytosis as methods of feeding. [7]
Zooxanthellae (/ ˌ z oʊ ə z æ n ˈ θ ɛ l iː /; sg. zooxanthella) is a colloquial term for single-celled dinoflagellates that are able to live in symbiosis with diverse marine invertebrates including demosponges, corals, jellyfish, and nudibranchs.
Some dinoflagellates are known to be photosynthetic, but a large fraction of these are in fact mixotrophic, combining photosynthesis with ingestion of prey (phagotrophy). [76] Some species are endosymbionts of marine animals and other protists, and play an important part in the biology of coral reefs .
Some dinoflagellates that lost their photosynthetic ability later regained it again through new endosymbiotic events with different algae. While able to perform photosynthesis, many of these eukaryotic groups are mixotrophs and practice heterotrophy to various degrees.
Symbiodinium is a genus of dinoflagellates that encompasses the largest and most prevalent group of endosymbiotic dinoflagellates known and have photosymbiotic relationships with many species. These unicellular microalgae commonly reside in the endoderm of tropical cnidarians such as corals , sea anemones , and jellyfish , where the products of ...
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Dinoflagellates (algal protists) are often endosymbionts in the cells of the coral-forming marine invertebrates, where they accelerate host-cell metabolism by generating sugar and oxygen immediately available through photosynthesis using incident light and the carbon dioxide produced by the host.