• @EvolvedTurtle
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    7 months ago

    Hey can someone summarize this into lame man terms

    What I’ve got is New organelle which evolved from a separate organism similar to mitochondria and it allows alga to process nitrogen

    Is that right? And what does this mean for the ecosystem

    • @angrystego
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      7 months ago

      This is exactly right. The alga has one more organelle that originated as a bacterial symbiont, just like mitochondria and chloroplasts, which is super cool! The alga, Braarudosphaera bigelowii, is a coccolithophore, which is very cool by itself. They are important part of the carbon cycle. And they look supercool - they are covered in calcareous scales and this species is shaped like a dodecahedron!!! https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/cb/Braarudosphaera_bigelowii.jpg