News tagged with diatom
Diatom biosensor could shine light on future nanomaterials
(PhysOrg.com) -- A glow coming from the glassy shell of microscopic marine algae called diatoms could someday help us detect chemicals and other substances in water samples. And the fact that this diatom can ...
Mar 23, 2012 |
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Small-scale gold mining impacts river algae in French Guiana
Small-scale gold mining in French Guiana is having long-term effects on diatoms, small single-celled algae, by eliminating the species that are most vulnerable to water turbidity. The findings come from research ...
Feb 29, 2012 |
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Climate change causes harmful algal blooms in North Atlantic: study
Warming oceans and increases in windiness could be causing of an abundance of harmful algal blooms in the North Atlantic Ocean and North Sea, according to new research.
Feb 13, 2012 |
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Chemists reveal how algae delete unwanted 'competitors'
Every morning when the sun comes up, the ocean ground is radically cleaned. As soon as the first rays of sunlight find their way into the water, the microalgae "Nitzschia cf pellucida" start their deadly 'morning ...
Jan 30, 2012 |
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It's elemental: Paper celebrates discovery of iodine
(PhysOrg.com) -- It's not every day that an element gets to celebrate a bicentennial, and a University of Delaware professor is pleased to have been invited to the "birthday party" for iodine, which was discovered ...
Dec 06, 2011 |
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CO2 bonds in sea ice: Small living creatures with major impact
Due to the presence of salts, the freezing point of sea water is below zero. During freezing, channels in which the salt accumulates, so-called "brine channels," are formed in the ice. They serve as a habitat ...
Space & Earth / Earth Sciences
Nov 11, 2011 |
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Scientists discover animal-like urea cycle in tiny diatoms in the ocean
Scientists have discovered that marine diatoms, tiny phytoplankton abundant in the sea, have an animal-like urea cycle, and that this cycle enables the diatoms to efficiently use carbon and nitrogen from their ...
May 11, 2011 |
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Reviving 100-year-old resting spores of diatoms
Diatoms account for a large proportion of the phytoplankton found in the water, and live both in the open sea and in freshwater lakes. By reviving 100-year-old spores that had laid buried and inactive in bottom ...
Space & Earth / Earth Sciences
Mar 01, 2011 |
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Invisible invasive species
While Asian carp, gypsy moths and zebra mussels hog invasive-species headlines, many invisible invaders are altering ecosystems and flourishing outside of the limelight.
Dec 07, 2010 |
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Understanding nitric oxide toxicity
(PhysOrg.com) -- Researchers at MIT, the Japan Synchrotron Radiation Research Institute (JASRI), and the University of California at Davis have succeeded in characterizing the dinitrosyl iron complexes (DNICs) ...
Dec 07, 2010 |
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Turkish delight for scientists who discover a new type of algae
(PhysOrg.com) -- It is less than one hundredth of a millimeter in diameter and has a delicately sculptured silica shell - meet Clipeoparvus anatolicus, a microscopic alga of a diatom genus previously unknown ...
Jun 21, 2010 |
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Physicists' findings about helium could lead to more accurate temperature measurements
In the May 7 edition of Physical Review Letters an international team led by University of Delaware researchers reports new findings about helium that may lead to more accurate standards for how temperature and pr ...
May 17, 2010 |
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Diatoms reveal freshwater pollution
Researchers in India have demonstrated that microscopic aquatic creatures could be used as the ecological equivalent of a canary in a coalmine for assessing inland freshwater lakes and ponds. Writing in the World Review of ...
May 04, 2010 |
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Using lasers to cool and manipulate molecules
(PhysOrg.com) -- "For years, we have been using laser cooling to trap and manipulate atoms," David DeMille tells PhysOrg.com. "This has been very useful for both basic science and many applications. Recent ...
Dec 07, 2009 |
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All decked out: Networks of chitin filaments are integral components of diatom silica shells
(PhysOrg.com) -- A whole microcosm of various bizarrely shaped life forms opens up when you look at diatoms, the primary component of ocean plankton, under a microscope. The regularly structured silica shells of these tiny ...
Dec 01, 2009 |
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Diatom
Diatoms (Greek: διά (dia) = "through" + τέμνειν (temnein) = "to cut", i.e., "cut in half") are a major group of eukaryotic algae, and are one of the most common types of phytoplankton. Most diatoms are unicellular, although they can exist as colonies in the shape of filaments or ribbons (e.g. Fragillaria), fans (Meridion), zigzags (Tabellaria), or stellate colonies (Asterionella). Diatoms are producers within the food chain. A characteristic feature of diatom cells is that they are encased within a unique cell wall made of silica (hydrated silicon dioxide) called a frustule. These frustules show a wide diversity in form, some quite beautiful and ornate, but usually consist of two asymmetrical sides with a split between them, hence the group name. Fossil evidence suggests that they originated during, or before, the early Jurassic Period. Diatom communities are a popular tool for monitoring environmental conditions, past and present, and are commonly used in studies of water quality. Scientists specializing in their study are sometimes called diatomists.
For more information about Diatom, read the full article at
Wikipedia.
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