dinoflagellates – Shamskm: A site to exchange knowledge and solutions

The Black Sea is a Goldmine of Ancient Genetic Data

By Guest PostMay 28, 2013Environmentalkenones, ancient genetic data, black sea, black sea sediment, brackish black sea, cercozoa, chris quince, dinoflagellates, dna techniques, dynamics, emiliania huxleyi, environmental changes, eustigmatophytes, fossil skeletons, freshwater, goldmine, haptophyte algae, Holocene, keith harris, lake environments, late glacial, liviu giosan, marco coolen, mariana filipova marinova, marine paleoecologist, mediterranean waters, microscope, organic walled dinocysts, past climate, plankton, precipitation, record, sedimentary genomic, strait of bosphorus, subatlantic climate, whoi, whoi geologist

New Study Reconstructs the Past Ocean ‘Paleome’

When Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI) marine paleoecologist Marco Coolen was mining through vast amounts of genetic data from the Black Sea sediment record, he was amazed about the variety of past plankton species that left behind their genetic makeup (i.e., the plankton paleome).

The semi-isolated Black Sea is highly sensitive to climate driven environmental changes, and the underlying sediments represent high-resolution archives of past continental climate and concurrent hydrologic changes in the basin. The brackish Black Sea is currently receiving salty Mediterranean waters via the narrow Strait of Bosphorus as well as freshwater from rivers and via precipitation. (more…)

Suggested Explanation for Glowing Seas–Including Currently Glowing California Seas

By Guest PostOctober 20, 2011Environment, Scienceabundance of protons, bioluminescence, blue flashes, california waters, channels in membranes, coastal california waters, dinoflagellates, electrical events, electrical impulses, Environment, j woodland hastings, luciferase, marine environments, mechanical stimulation, organism, potential mechanism for bioluminescence, produce toxins, protein, scintillons, unicellular plankton, vacuole, voltage gated proton channels

*Potential mechanism for dazzling blue flashes of light in oceans identified*

It has long been known that spectacular blue flashes–a type of bioluminescence–that are visible at night in some marine environments (currently including coastal California waters) are caused by tiny, unicellular plankton known as dinoflagellates. However, a new study has, for the first time, detailed the potential mechanism for this bioluminescence.

The study, which was partially funded by the National Science Foundation, is reported by Susan Smith of Emory School of Medicine, Thomas DeCoursey of Rush University Medical Center and colleagues in the Oct. 17, 2011 issue of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS). (more…)

Tag Archives: dinoflagellates

The Black Sea is a Goldmine of Ancient Genetic Data

Suggested Explanation for Glowing Seas–Including Currently Glowing California Seas