Dinoflagellates Victoria Pastoukhova 1 st year CORELIS master’s program
Dinoflagellates v Large group of flagellate protists (phylum Dinoflagellata) v Most are marine plankton, but they are common in freshwater habitats, as well v Populations are distributed depending on temperature, salinity, or depth v Many dinoflagellates are known to be photosynthetic, but a large fraction of these are in fact mixotrophic A bloom of certain dinoflagellates can result in a visible coloration of the water colloquially known as red tide, which can cause shellfish poisoning if humans consume contaminated shellfish.
Dinoflagellates Habitats v Dinoflagellates can occur in all aquatic environments: marine, brackish, and fresh water, including in snow or ice. They are also common in benthic environments and sea ice. Harmful algal blooms Bioluminescence
Dinoflagellates Evolutionary history v The earliest known fossil Arpylorus antiquus is from the Silurian Period (about 400 million years ago) v Rare in the Paleozoic, but there are many fossils from the Late Triassic onward v Prevalent in Cretaceous deposits (the largest morphological diversity) v Morphological diversity run-down since the Neogene
Dinoflagellates Evolutionary history v Many fossil forms of dinoflagellates are known - approximately 2000 species in 425 genera v Mainly represented as fossils by fossil dinocysts ( «Hystrichospheres» - spiny balls with a long fossil record) v Often used to determine the environmental conditions (paleoclimatologic and paleoecologic envistigations) Dinoflagellate Fossil by Eric V. Grave
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