#Cyanobacteria

[lichenaday]

Scytinium turgidum

When I see people tag my lichen posts with #plant, I have to admit, a part of me dies inside. Because like, cyanolichens like S. turgidum have to plants parts. This guy is composed of an ascomycete fungi and a cyanobacteria -- no plants involved whatsoever. This jelly lichen grows on calcareous rock often inundated with runoff. It has shiny red-black to blackish-olive lobes which are wrinkled and thin when dry, thick and gelatinous when wet. The upper surface is covered in granular isidia, and often brownish-red apothecia. S. turgidum has a Nostoc photobiont.

images: source

info: source | source

[sometiktoksarevalid]

Edit: Corrected information given:

"[T]he water in Lake Tahoe had testing done, the results of which came back literally three days ago showing very, VERY low percentages of the toxins being talked about in that video, and only in very specific parts of the lake. Meaning there was not enough present to cause severe effects in people, or pets. There WAS a small, backwater pond separate from Lake Tahoe reported to have a HAB bloom on the NV side, but it does not effect the rest of the lake."

Article link: https://www.tahoedailytribune.com/news/no-harmful-algal-bloom-detected-at-lake-tahoe-sites-purported-to-be-responsible-for-dogs-death/

[garblegarden]

Whoooooo wants keychains?

I was originally going to wait until the keychains got here to put them on sale, but I'm getting antsy, so they're on preorder! I estimate I'll receive all of them in a few days and then they'll ship out immediately, if you dare to purchase one. 😈

First up, a bunch of friendly fishy keychains! A coelacanth, a wild type betta, and a furry trout.

Then, some algae! Featuring shapely diatoms and dinoflagellates, as well as some nice green cyanobacteria.

Check them out here! https://garblegoods.bigcartel.com/

[mindblowingscience]

Cyanobacteria, an ancient lineage of bacteria that perform photosynthesis, have been found to regulate their genes using the same physics principle used in AM radio transmission. New research published in Current Biology has found that cyanobacteria use variations in the amplitude (strength) of a pulse to convey information in single cells. The finding sheds light on how biological rhythms work together to regulate cellular processes.

Continue Reading.

[life-on-our-planet]

At the bottom of Lake Untersee in Antarctica are giant stromatolites, an ancient form of life on our planet. They first appeared closer in time to the formation of Earth, three and a half billion years ago, than to the present day. Scientists hope that studying these organisms in such a hostile environment will help us understand and recognize life on icy worlds beyond our own. BBC Earth

[neat-deadandlive-things]

Today's little bit of joy is brought to you by this absolutely perfect filamentous cyanobacteria specimen. This beauty sits perfectly in a single plane, the whole thing in focus, and has both a heteorcysts AND an akinete.

[stimciety]

Cyanobacteria research

[microbes-in-hats]

Merismopedia elegans

Photo credit: Jason Oyadomari/Keweenaw Algae

[opens-up-4-nobody]

:-]

[fishoni]

I made a character based on Cyanobacteria!

[rjzimmerman]

Excerpt from this story from Smithsonian Magazine:

Under the dry, piercing heat of the Utah sun, Sasha Reed is growing plots of plants—and bacteria, lichen and fungi, too. But Reed is no farmer, and at first glance, her fields look to be mostly dirt. She’s an ecologist, and what she is growing is cryptobiotic soil.

Also called biocrust, cryptobiotic soil is a community of tiny, dirt-dwelling organisms that form a distinct crust on the top of soil in arid landscapes. These crusts are vital across Earth’s dryland ecosystems, helping to hold loose soil together and prevent erosion. They retain water, provide nooks for other microbes to live in and add nitrogen to the soil.

Cryptobiotic soil often looks like a discolored patch of ground. Upon closer inspection, the stain becomes a mosaic of small, dark lumps, dotted with tiny beds of moss and inconspicuous patches of lichen. But it can also look very similar to regular, crusty soil. Although the crunchy earth might be tempting to trek over, like stomping through a pile of crisp autumn leaves, that’s a major faux pas: Biocrust can take decades to regenerate.

And these days, in addition to getting crushed by boots, biocrusts are threatened by another kind of human footprint: climate change. So researchers are diligently working to learn more about the crusts and how to restore them.

“It’s been a pretty busy but also exciting time, because we’re kind of inventing how to do this,” says Anita Antoninka, a plant and soil ecologist at Northern Arizona University in Flagstaff who studies the crusts.

The drylands where biocrusts reside are vital ecosystems, she says, but they are some of the most degraded around the globe. As biocrusts decline in these areas, soil fertility will drop, and wind erosion will blow away the loose, unprotected dirt. Less water will soak into the ground. Even the carbon cycle could be affected, as there will be fewer tiny life forms absorbing carbon dioxide.

Biocrusts cover around 12 percent of Earth’s land surfaces and inhabit every continent in the world. A major component of these crusts is often photosynthesizing bacteria called cyanobacteria. The cyanobacteria form sticky filaments that act like glue in sandy desert soil, creating a clumpy, crusty surface where fungi and other bacteria take hold.

[lichenaday]

Lobaria anthraspis

Dimpled specklebelly

I have been saving this lichen for a special occasion because I am so incredibly in love with her that I haven't wanted to free her from my drafts folder. But today is the day. This gorgeous weirdo is a tripartite (has both a green algae AND a cyanobacteria as photobionts) foliose lichen which grows only in the cold, humid forests of western North America. It has leathery, reticulated lobes which vary in color from dark brown (melanized) to gray blue to olive green in color. It produces lots of apothecia which also vary in color from orange to red to brown to black. Like other Lobarias, L. anthraspis prefers old-growth, isolated forests far away from pollution and disturbance. So my current retirement plan is to wander into the forest and settle wherever I find her and live out the rest of my life in peace and joy (the rest of my life not being very long due to the harsh winters of the region, but at least I will go out happy in the presence of the one I love).

images: source

info: source | source | source

[foundgirlpigeon]

AAAAAAA

THEY LITERALLY JUST DECIDE YES THIS ONE IS OKAY AND HOLD ONTO EACH OTHER

They hold onto each other and form a community like we do I'm totally not sobbing over this

[pawzooks]

Blue-green algae, or cyanobacteria, can produce extremely harmful toxins for dogs. When ingested, these toxins can cause severe symptoms such as vomiting, diarrhea, weakness, and even liver failure. Dogs can be exposed by drinking or swimming in contaminated water. To protect your pet, always keep your pet away from water with visible algae blooms.

[mindblowingscience]

Stanford researchers have found a surprising genetic twist in a lineage of microbes that may play an important role in ocean carbon storage. The microbes, known as blue-green algae or cyanobacteria, have two different forms of a ubiquitous enzyme that rarely appear together in the same organism. “This is one of those great examples of science where you go out looking for one thing, but you end up finding something else that’s even better,” said Anne Dekas, an assistant professor of Earth system science at the Stanford Doerr School of Sustainability and senior author of the Nov. 25 study in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

Continue Reading.

[love-letters-to-bugs]

big shoutout to cyanobacteria for adding more oxygen to the atmosphere, very cool of them :]

!!! 🦠