Nodularia
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| Nodularia | |
|---|---|
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| Satellite image of a large bloom of Nodularia swirling in the Baltic Sea | |
Scientific classification  | |
| Domain: | Bacteria |
| Kingdom: | Bacillati |
| Phylum: | Cyanobacteria |
| Class: | Cyanophyceae |
| Order: | Nostocales |
| Family: | Aphanizomenonaceae |
| Genus: | Nodularia Mertens 1822 |
| Species | |
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Nodularia armorica | |
Nodularia is a genus of filamentous nitrogen-fixing cyanobacteria, or blue-green algae.[1] They occur mainly in brackish or salinic waters, such as the hypersaline Makgadikgadi Pans,[2] 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.
Nodularia may form solitary filaments or groups of filaments. They reproduce by the formation of hormogonia, filament breakage, and by akinetes .[3]
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.[4]