Cyanobacteria
Cyanobacteria are single celled prokaryotes that were formerly known as "blue-green algae". Blue for being aquatic and green for the ability to perform photosynthesis. They have been around as early as 3.5 billion years ago and are largely responsible for the oxygenation of our atmosphere.
Cyanobacteria helped take one of the first steps in the formation of life as we know it today. They were simple single celled prokaryotes that became photosynthetic sometime in the early Archean. Their ability to perform photosynthesis played a major role in the oxygenation of our atmosphere during the Archean and Proterozoic:
- Oxygen is a bi product of the photosynthesis process
- At first the ocean would suck up the resulting oxygen
- This resulted in BIFs (Branded Iron Formations)
- Eventually precipitation exhausted and dissolved the iron found in BIFs which allowed oxygen to be released into the atmosphere
The Importance of Cyanobacteria
Without cyanobacteria we would not have:
- Stromatolites
- Proterozoic oil deposits
- Oxygenated atmosphere
- Fossils from the Archean to study
- Anything that needs oxygen to breathe (including you!)