Emiliania Huxleyi Algae – Powerful Carbon Dioxide Regulators

This year’s first prize of the ZEISS Microscopy Image Contest was awarded to Alicia González Segura (middle), Dolores Molina Fernández (left) and Isabel Sánchez Almazo (right) from the Centro de Instrumentación Científica at the University of Granada (Spain) for their visually stunning image of Emiliania huxleyi coccospheres. This alga is considered a ubiquitous species found in almost all ocean ecosystems from the equator to sub-polar regions, and from nutrient rich upwelling zones to nutrient poor oligotrophic waters.

This microphotograph was obtained in the framework of a study on phytoplankton biodiversity from the Alboran Sea in the Western Mediterranean, with particular emphasis on the life cycle of  Emiliania huxleyi, which is probably the most abundant eukaryotic microorganism in the oceans. These phytoplanktonic organisms play a major role in the regulation of atmospheric CO₂, ocean acidification and the global carbon cycle. They are omnipresent and critical to life on earth.

Coccoliths are well preserved in sedimentary rocks, where they have been used as age indicators. Furthermore, the distribution and geochemistry of these microorganisms can be used in paleoclimatic studies.