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Through collective interaction, filamentous cyanobacteria self-organize into colonies or biofilms, symbiotic communities found in a wide variety of ecological niches. Their larger-scale collective structures are characterized by diverse shapes including bundles, vortices and reticulate patterns.
Cyanobacteria have been found to play an important role in terrestrial habitats and organism communities. It has been widely reported that cyanobacteria soil crusts help to stabilize soil to prevent erosion and retain water. [100] An example of a cyanobacterial species that does so is Microcoleus vaginatus.
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]
Some types of cyanobacteria are endosymbiont and cyanobacteria have been found to possess genes that enable them to undergo nitrogen fixation. [ 165 ] Organisms typically establish a symbiotic relationship due to their limited availability of resources in their habitat or due to a limitation of their food source.
Cyanobacteria are a phylum of bacteria that obtain their energy through the process of photosynthesis. [1] [2] Although cyanobacteria metabolize photoautotrophically like eukaryotic plants, they have prokaryotic cell structure. Cyanophages can be found in both freshwater and marine environments. [3]
Merismopedia (from the Greek merismos [division] and the Greek pedion [plain]) is a genus of cyanobacteria found in fresh and salt water. It is ovoid or spherical in shape and arranged in rows and flats, forming rectangular colonies held together by a mucilaginous matrix.
Anabaena circinalis is a species of Gram-negative, photosynthetic cyanobacteria common to freshwater environments throughout the world. Much of the scientific interest in A. circinalis owes to its production of several potentially harmful cyanotoxins, ranging in potency from irritating to lethal. [1]
Gloeotrichia is a large (~2 mm) colonial genus of Cyanobacteria, belonging to the order Nostocales. [2] The name Gloeotrichia is derived from the appearance of the filamentous body with prominent mucilage matrix. Found in lakes across the globe, gloeotrichia are notable for the important roles that they play in the nitrogen and phosphorus cycles.