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Cyanobacteria are ubiquitous in marine environments and play important roles as primary producers. They are part of the marine phytoplankton, which currently contributes almost half of the Earth's total primary production. [33] About 25% of the global marine primary production is contributed by cyanobacteria. [34]
Prochlorococcus is a genus of very small (0.6 μm) marine cyanobacteria with an unusual pigmentation (chlorophyll a2 and b2).These bacteria belong to the photosynthetic picoplankton and are probably the most abundant photosynthetic organism on Earth.
As cyanobacteria are bacteria that use light to fuel their energy-producing photosynthetic machinery they depend on perceiving light in order to optimize their response and to avoid harmful light that could result in the formation of reactive oxygen species and subsequently in their death. [28]
Originally, biologists classified cyanobacteria as an algae, and referred to it as "blue-green algae". The more recent view is that cyanobacteria are bacteria, and hence are not even in the same Kingdom as algae. Most authorities exclude all prokaryotes, and hence cyanobacteria from the definition of algae. [87] [88]
Nostoc, also known as star jelly, troll's butter, spit of moon, fallen star, witch's butter (not to be confused with the fungi commonly known as witches' 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. [1]
Cyanobionts provide benefit through dissolved organic carbon (DOC) production or nitrogen fixation but vary in function depending on their host. [12] Organisms that depend on cyanobacteria often live in nitrogen-limited, oligotrophic environments and can significantly alter marine composition leading to blooms. [12] [13]
The organisms responsible for primary production are called primary producers or autotrophs. Most marine primary production is generated by a diverse collection of marine microorganisms called algae and cyanobacteria. Together these form the principal primary producers at the base of the ocean food chain and produce half of the world's oxygen ...
Originally, biologists thought cyanobacteria was algae, and referred to it as "blue-green algae". The more recent view is that cyanobacteria are bacteria, and hence are not even in the same Kingdom as algae. Most authorities exclude all prokaryotes, and hence cyanobacteria from the definition of algae. [143] [144]