2012/10/22 by Kenneth Neil Mertens, Karin Rengefors, Øjvind Moestrup +1 · 1 citation
Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology · Earth and Planetary Sciences · #Biological dispersal #Biology #Dinoflagellate #Ecology #Geology and Paleoclimatology Research #Marine and coastal ecosystems #Phylogenetics #Protist diversity and phylogeny #Taxonomy (biology) #Zoology
paper · doi:10.2216/11-89.1
openalex publication_date 2012/10/22 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/15
Mertens K.N., Rengefors K., Moestrup Ø. and Ellegaard M. 2012. A review of recent freshwater dinoflagellate cysts: taxonomy, phylogeny, ecology and palaeocology. Phycologia 51: 612–619. DOI: 10.2216/11-89.1Resting stages (e.g. cysts) play an important role in the life history and ecology of phytoplankton, e.g. the survival, reproduction, genetic recombination, and dispersal of many species. Marine dinoflagellates cysts have been intensively studied by both geologists and biologists, but freshwater cysts have received less attention. There are approximately 350 freshwater dinoflagellate species, and resting cysts have been described for 84 species. We evaluated the descriptions, and we reproduced images for each cyst type. The review highlighted the importance of cyst characters for taxonomy and phylogeny. We suggested that shape, wall ornamentation and possibly the archeopyle and color were important morphological characteristics at the generic level and above. The ecology of freshwater dinoflagellate cysts was reviewed, and the ecological role of cysts was discussed. The potential of freshwater cysts for Quaternary palaeoecological reconstructions was highlighted, revealing that these could serve as useful indicators of temperature, pH and productivity.