Habitat and Interactions

Like I said on my Home page, you don't have to go very far to find this organism. It resides in freshwater and the genus Microcystis is known to be found on every continent but Antarctica. It lives near the surface of bodies of water due to its reliance on oxygen. Because it has to stay near the surface it aids the organism to live in a more still waters suck as lakes. Other noted organisms in its microscopic habitat include roundworms, dinoflagellates, diatoms, arthropods, green algae, and other cyanobacteria. Roundworms are animals such as nematodes are closely related to earthworms and flatworms, dinoflagellates are often photosynthetic protists, diatoms refer to a group of organisms which are known for their beautiful and seemingly unnatural silica structure, arthropods are animals which are usually related to animals such as insects such as cicadas, crabs, or even daphnia, and green algae are also photsynthetic protists. There have been studies that show a positive correlation between high numbers of dinoflagellates and Microcystis. M. aeruginosa causes algal blooms which an prevent some aphids from reaching the surface and acquiring oxygen.