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
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
It means they can fertilize themselves, removing the one thing plants can’t do on their own.
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