The pigment composition includes two phycobilins, phycoerythrin and phycocyanin. When the latter is dominant the plants are blue-green. Red blue-green algae contain a preponderance of phycoerythrin. Certain species of blue-green algae contain both pigments and can adjust the relative amounts depending on environmental circumstances. There are some 150 genera and over 2000 species recognized as blue-green algae.
Habitats range from deserts to ice packs.
Most of the species are freshwater. One genus, Calothrix occupies the supralittoral zone in marine shores throughout the east coast of North America. One of the most important of the prokaryotic photobacteria, members that are related to the Cyanobacteria is Prochlorococcus . There are terms that apply to structures and processes that are closely associated with the dynamics of blue-green algal dynamics. You are to write a brief paragraph that provides more information for each of the descriptive phrases using the html markup language, HTML Pad or other editor and send the completed essay to Russell G. Rhodes, Instructor as an attachment or in the e-mail itself.