''Dinobryon'' is a type of microscopic

algae Algae ( , ; : alga ) are any of a large and diverse group of photosynthetic, eukaryotic organisms. The name is an informal term for a polyphyletic grouping that includes species from multiple distinct clades. Included organisms range from ...

. It is one of the 22

genera Genus ( plural genera ) is a taxonomic rank used in the biological classification of living and fossil organisms as well as viruses. In the hierarchy of biological classification, genus comes above species and below family. In binomial ...

in the family Dinobryaceae. ''Dinobryon'' are

mixotroph A mixotroph is an organism that can use a mix of different Primary nutritional groups, sources of energy and carbon, instead of having a single trophic mode on the continuum from complete autotrophy at one end to heterotrophy at the other. It is est ...

s, capable of obtaining energy and carbon through photosynthesis and phagotrophy of bacteria. The genus comprises at least 37 described species. The best-known species are ''D. cylindricum'' and ''D. divergens'', which come to the attention of humans annually due to transient blooms in the photic zone of temperate lakes and ponds. Such blooms may produce volatile organic compounds (

VOCs Volatile organic compounds (VOCs) are organic compounds that have a high vapour pressure at room temperature. High vapor pressure correlates with a low boiling point, which relates to the number of the sample's molecules in the surrounding air, a ...

) that produce odors and affect water quality. ''Dinobryon'' can exist as free-living, solitary cells or in branching colonies.

Ecology

Though most commonly found in freshwater lakes and ponds, ''Dinobryon'' have also been documented flourishing in lotic and estuarine habitats. Large blooms of ''Dinobryon'' are documented most commonly in oligo- to meso- trophic temperate lakes and ponds, though they have also been observed in eutrophic waters. Such blooms regularly occur during springtime at the onset of thermal stratification, and commonly occur following a diatom bloom. The blooms are initiated from resting siliceous spores called statospores that lay dormant on the lake bottom through the winter. Increased spring insolation causes them to germinate, producing amoeboid cells that generate two flagella and encase themselves in a vase-like cellulosic lorica. These motile cells rise into photic waters where they proliferate.

References

Chrysophyceae Algae genera Heterokont genera Taxa named by Christian Gottfried Ehrenberg {{Heterokont-stub