Diatoms and dinoflagellates and dinotoms, oh my! - with Brittany Sprecher

Diatoms are beautiful (and weird). Dinoflagellates are weird (and beautiful). They are completely different organisms but both are protists that can both support whole ecosystems or cause devastating environmental hazards. However, only one of them inspired Alfred Hitchcock to make his famous movie, The Birds (listen to find out which). Both organisms can produce oxygen to help us breathe, and diatoms alone produce over 20% of the oxygen in the atmosphere. And sometimes dinoflagellates will ingest diatoms and use their innards to steal photosynthesis, creating a new type of organism called a "dinotom"! That was a very chaotic group of sentences but luckily this week we have Dr. Brittany Sprecher on the podcast who is an expert at diatoms, dinoflagellates, AND dinotoms. What a combo! We discuss a lot on this episode and you will come away learning all about the amazing research going on with these funky microbes.

Brittany Sprecher is a postdoctoral researcher at Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution. You can follow her work on Google Scholar.

Here are some links Brittany recommends to learn more about these protists:

1. Short Klaus Kemp diatom arranging documentary
2. Phytoplankton Identification guide (California coast)
3. Microorganisms PARODY video
4. "The algae that saved an astronaut's life" video
5. Wiki for Amoebophrya, the dinoflagellate parasite that infects other dinoflagellates
6. Bioluminescent waves in Monterey Bay
7. Bioluminescence vs. fluorescence video

For more info on microbes and to follow updates of this podcast, find @couch_microscopy on Instagram or visit www.couchmicroscopy.com/store for merch!

The views and opinions expressed on this program are those of the host and guests and do not reflect the views of any institution.