page_title: Bacterioplankton
section_title: Ecological significance
hierarchical_section_title: Bacterioplankton / Ecological significance
caption_attribution_description: English: A large bloom of cyanobacteria, more commonly known as blue-green algae, spread across the lake in green filaments and strands that are clearly visible in this simulated-natural-colour image. According to local news reports, the nutrients feeding the bloom in Lake Atitlán come from sewage, agricultural run off, and increased run off as a result of deforestation around the lake basin. The image reveals clearly why run-off would end up in the lake. Mountains and volcanoes encircle Lake Atitlán, ensuring that all rain that falls in the basin flows into the bowl-like lake. Silver-gray settlements, another source of pollution, ring the lake. Deforestation is a little bit more difficult to see. The forest is a darker shade of green than agricultural fields. The contrast between forested land and agriculture is most evident on the slopes of the San Pedro Volcano on the south-west shore of the lake. Large pale green squares cut into the dark green crown over the peak of the volcano.
context_page_description: Bacterioplankton refers to the bacterial component of the plankton that drifts in the water column. The name comes from the Ancient Greek word πλανκτος, meaning "wanderer" or "drifter", and bacterium, a Latin term coined in the 19th century by Christian Gottfried Ehrenberg. They are found in both seawater and freshwater.
  Bacterioplankton occupy a range of ecological niches in marine and aquatic ecosystems. They are both primary producers and primary consumers in these ecosystems and drive global biogeochemical cycling of elements essential for life. Many bacterioplankton species are autotrophic, and derive energy from either photosynthesis or chemosynthesis. Photosynthetic bacterioplankton are often categorized as picophytoplankton, and include major cyanobacterial groups such as Prochlorococcus and Synechococcus. Other heterotrophic bacterioplankton are saprotrophic, and obtain energy by consuming organic material produced by other organisms. This material may be dissolved in the medium and taken directly from there, or bacteria may live and grow in association with particulate material such as marine snow.
context_section_description: Bacterioplankton such as cyanobacteria are able to have toxic blooms in eutrophic lakes which can lead to the death of many organisms such as fish, birds, cattle, pets and humans. A few examples of these harmful blooms is the Microcystis bloom in the year 2000 in Swan River estuary, Australia, and the Oostvaarderplassen in the Netherlands in 2003. The detrimental effects of these blooms can range from heart malformation in fish to constraining copepod reproduction.
  High temperatures caused by seasonality increases stratification and preventing vertical turbulent mixing which increases competition for light that favours buoyant cyanobacteria.  Higher temperatures also reduce the viscosity of water which allows faster movement which also favors buoyant species of cyanobacteria. These species are also very competitive with the ability to create a surface cover preventing light to reach deeper species of plankton.
  Climate studies are also indicating that with increasing hot waves the likelihood of detrimental cyanobacterial blooms will become more of a threat to eutrophic freshwater systems. Other implications of the increasing average air temperature due to climate change is that there might be an expansion of the cyanobacterial bloom season, extending from earlier in the spring to later in the fall.
  Estimates of bacterioplankton abundance and density can be derived with a variety of methods including direct counts, flow cytometry, and conclusions drawn from metabolic measures.
  Further, as discussed in the biogeochemical cycling section, plankton are responsible for the recycling and movement of essential nutrients (i.e. nitrogen/carbon/DOM) which are essential building blocks for many of the organisms co-existing with bacterioplankton in these ecosystems. These recycled nutrients can be reused by primary producers, thus increasing the efficiency of the biological food web and minimizing energy waste.
caption: A large harmful bloom of cyanobacteria, more commonly known as blue-green algae, spread across the lake in green filaments and strands that are clearly visible in this simulated-natural-colour image.
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