Nodularia


Nodularia is a genus of filamentous nitrogen-fixing cyanobacteria, or blue-green algae. They occur mainly in brackish or salinic waters, such as the hypersaline Makgadikgadi Pans, the Peel-Harvey Estuary in Western Australia or the Baltic Sea. Nodularia cells occasionally form heavy algal blooms. Some strains produce a cyanotoxin called nodularin R, which is harmful to humans.
The type species for the genus is Nodularia spumigena Mertens ex Bornet & Flahault, 1886.

Morphology

Nodularia may form solitary filaments or groups of filaments. They reproduce by the formation of hormogonia, filament breakage, and by akinetes.

Recent evolution

As climate change influenced the local sea surface temperature, N. spumigena in the Baltic Sea changed their photosynthetic optimum temperature too. This was revealed by a sediment core from the Eastern Gotland Basin corresponding to 1987-2020, providing strains of N. spumigena that were revived and tested in the lab.

Line notes