Cyanobacteriota
Enable an AI agent to recognise Cyanobacteriota as a taxonomic group, interpret evidence about its members and populations, and choose justified identification, monitoring or management actions.
Research draft, second pass
A second pass drafted this model: the structure a model of this thing needs, and what is known about it in the world. The line under this one says how the second half was obtained - researched against sources, or recalled without web access, in which case nothing here was read anywhere and every claim is a lead to verify. Unreviewed either way.
recalled by Codex without web access - no source was read
Researched by: Codex
Purpose and description
Enable an AI agent to recognise Cyanobacteriota as a taxonomic group, interpret evidence about its members and populations, and choose justified identification, monitoring or management actions.
Cyanobacteriota is a bacterial phylum encompassing the cyanobacteria, whose characteristic metabolism is oxygen-producing photosynthesis, with some taxonomic classifications also including nonphotosynthetic relatives.
It can be Resolve a submitted name or identifier to an explicitly versioned Cyanobacteriota taxonomic concept.; Assess whether microscopy and sequence evidence justify membership and a proposed identification depth.; Compare cultures or populations using morphology, physiology and environmental context.; Design sampling that distinguishes organism abundance, physiological activity and toxin evidence.; Track population changes and flag observations requiring confirmatory identification or chemical analysis.; Support monitoring or management decisions using local evidence and applicable protocols..
Distinguishing features
Require a taxonomic assignment under a named classification; a blue-green appearance or the label 'algae' alone does not establish membership.
Distinguish free-living or symbiotic bacterial cells from eukaryotic algal cells and from chloroplasts inside a host cell.
Evaluate oxygenic photosynthesis as diagnostic evidence alongside lineage assignment, without assuming that every classification gives Cyanobacteriota the same physiological boundary.
Separate unicellular, colonial and filamentous forms within the group rather than treating one morphology as its universal form.
Do not infer nitrogen fixation, toxin production or bloom formation solely from membership in Cyanobacteriota.
Scope
+ Taxonomic circumscription, nomenclatural authority and mappings between classifications using Cyanobacteriota or related names.
+ Evidence for assigning an organism, culture or environmental sequence to the group.
+ Cell organisation, growth forms, physiological capabilities and their distribution among member lineages.
+ Habitats, ecological relationships and population conditions relevant to interpreting observations.
+ Evidence thresholds for identification, bloom assessment, sampling and management.
- Complete descriptions and conservation assessments of individual member species.
- Eukaryotic algae as independent taxa and chloroplasts as independently living organisms.
- Water bodies, microbial communities and ecosystems except for their relationships to cyanobacterial populations.
- Isolated pigments, cyanotoxins and commercial biomass products as substances or commodities.
- Human or animal diseases, exposure assessments and treatment protocols.
Characteristics
- Taxonomic concept and authority
- Accepted name, rank, nomenclatural authority and date, classification provider, release or access date, and provider-specific identifier. Membership and synonymy must be interpreted against an explicit taxonomic concept.
- Entity level
- Phylum concept | subordinate taxon | strain | culture | individual cell | colony or filament | population | environmental sample. Prevents observations of one strain or population from becoming claims about the entire phylum.
- Identification evidence
- Microscopy, marker sequence, genome or other evidence linked to method, reference set and confidence. Determines which taxonomic and biological conclusions an agent may support.
- Cell and growth organisation
- Unicellular, colonial or filamentous; dimensions in µm; sheath and differentiated-cell observations where applicable. Supports recognition and records variation without making specialised structures universal.
- Photosynthetic capability
- Demonstrated | genetically supported | inferred | not detected | untested, with oxygen evolution and pigment evidence where available. Separates measured activity from presumed capability and helps resolve classification boundaries.
- Nitrogen-fixing capability
- Demonstrated | genetically supported | not detected | untested, linked to lineage and conditions. Supports nutrient-cycle interpretation without attributing nitrogen fixation to every member.
- Habitat and occurrence
- Georeferenced observation with date, aquatic or terrestrial substrate, salinity, temperature and free-living or host-associated context. Makes distribution and environmental tolerance claims traceable to observations.
- Population abundance
- Cells/mL, biovolume in mm³/L, biomass in mg/L or surface coverage in %, with method and sampled medium. Supports population trends while preserving differences between abundance metrics.
- Toxin evidence
- Untested | biosynthetic potential detected | toxin detected | toxin not detected, with analyte, method, detection limit and concentration where measured. Distinguishes taxonomic presence, production potential and measured contamination.
- Assessment applicability
- Conservation or management assessment linked to its taxon, geographic scope, assessor and assessment year; unknown or not applicable recorded explicitly. Prevents a species assessment or local advisory from being assigned to the whole phylum.
Where this came from
wikidata · CC0 1.0
Drafted structure
Bundle to layer to finding to question, as the second pass will find it: 6 bundles · 11 layers · 19 findings · 30 questions.
Taxonomic identity and boundaries Establish what the registered phylum includes under a stated classification.
An agent cannot safely transfer findings between records until their taxonomic concepts and entity levels are reconciled.
Name, authority and circumscription
Resolve nomenclature separately from the membership adopted by a classification.
Anchored phylum concept
Record the authority-backed concept behind Cyanobacteriota and the scope of alternative names.
- Which nomenclatural authority and date apply to Cyanobacteriota, and which classification release defines its included lineages? provenance
- How do Cyanobacteriota and Cyanobacteria correspond in that source: equivalent concepts, different ranks or overlapping circumscriptions? boundary
- Which NCBI Taxonomy and GBIF identifiers resolve to this concept, and do their memberships agree? provenance
Taxon and observed entity
Keep group-level knowledge separate from specimen, strain and population observations.
Observation attribution
Attach each observation to the biological entity actually examined and preserve its identification limits.
- Does this record describe the phylum, a member taxon, a strain, a colony, a population or a mixed environmental sample? boundary
- What evidence connects the observed entity to Cyanobacteriota, and what is the narrowest supported taxonomic assignment? provenance
Cell organisation and development Describe the cellular forms and developmental variation useful for recognising members.
Cyanobacterial observations require distinctions among cells, colonies, filaments and specialised structures.
Morphology and cellular context
Interpret microscopic form together with evidence about cellular identity.
Diagnostic cell organisation
Record morphology without treating colour or a single growth form as sufficient identification.
- What cell dimensions, colony or filament organisation, sheath features and imaging conditions were recorded? measurement
- What evidence distinguishes these cells from eukaryotic algae, other bacteria or chloroplast material in the sample? boundary
Differentiation and propagation
Capture lineage-specific differentiation, propagation and persistence.
Observed developmental capabilities
Treat specialised cell types and propagation modes as evidence-dependent properties of particular members.
- Are heterocysts, akinetes, hormogonia or other differentiated forms documented for this lineage, and under which conditions? provenance
- Which division, fragmentation, dispersal or resting-state transitions have been observed, and how are viability and renewed growth established? measurement
Energy and nutrient physiology Distinguish physiological capabilities from activity measured under particular conditions.
Photosynthesis and nutrient transformations are central to interpretation but cannot be assigned uniformly across all members.
Photosynthesis and carbon acquisition
Connect light use and carbon acquisition to lineage and experimental evidence.
Supported energy metabolism
Record how photosynthetic capability and actual metabolic activity were established.
- What pigment, photosystem, oxygen-evolution or carbon-fixation evidence supports the assigned physiology? provenance
- Under what light, temperature and carbon conditions were growth or photosynthetic rates measured? measurement
Nitrogen and resource constraints
Track nitrogen acquisition and growth limitations without extrapolating from isolated examples.
Conditional nutrient capabilities
Separate nitrogen-fixing potential, demonstrated activity and environmental nutrient limitation.
- Is nitrogen fixation demonstrated for this strain or population, inferred from genes or currently untested? provenance
- Which measurements establish limitation by nitrogen, phosphorus, iron or another resource in this setting? measurement
Habitats and ecological relationships Locate cyanobacterial occurrences and interpret their environmental and biological relationships.
A phylum-level distribution summary cannot substitute for the habitat requirements or ecological effects of a particular population.
Occurrence and environmental envelope
Distinguish recorded presence from persistence, growth and geographic origin.
Contextualised occurrence
Link distribution claims to identified material, sampling context and environmental measurements.
- Where and when was the identified lineage recorded, in what substrate or water layer, and at what salinity and temperature? measurement
- Does the evidence establish a growing resident population, transported cells or sequence detection alone, and is native-range terminology meaningful at this taxonomic level? boundary
Hosts, communities and ecosystem effects
Represent associations and measured ecological contributions.
Attributable ecological role
Distinguish association from demonstrated effects on hosts, communities or material cycles.
- Is the population free-living, host-associated or part of a mat or consortium, and what evidence establishes the relationship? provenance
- Which measurements attribute primary production, nitrogen input, oxygen changes or food-web effects to this population? measurement
Population state and intervention Interpret abundance, potential hazards and evidence needed before acting.
Taxonomic detection, bloom formation and toxin contamination require separate evidence and can justify different responses.
Abundance, blooms and toxin evidence
Keep population measurements distinct from chemical hazard measurements.
Separated population and hazard assessment
Evaluate bloom conditions and toxin evidence without treating either as an automatic consequence of membership.
- Which abundance metric, spatial extent, time series and locally applicable definition support calling this event a cyanobacterial bloom? measurement
- Were toxin-production genes, intracellular toxins or dissolved toxins measured, with which analytes, detection limits and sampling dates? measurement
Sampling and management decisions
Connect proposed actions to identified uncertainty, local conditions and follow-up evidence.
Evidence-proportionate action
Choose identification, monitoring or management steps supported by the observed population and applicable protocols.
- What additional microscopy, sequencing, viability assessment or toxin analysis is needed before the proposed decision can be justified? action
- Which local protocol governs the proposed intervention, and how will its effects on cells, dissolved toxins and the surrounding community be checked? action
Evidence and external alignment What the world already says about this thing, gathered so the model can be checked against it.
A model that cannot be lined up against existing standards, identifiers and practice cannot be adopted by anyone who already uses them.
Reported evidence
Findings from the breadth pass, kept separate from the structural claims.
Check these first
Recalled without web access and unsourced; every item is a lead to verify.
- Check the chosen taxonomic authority for phylum circumscription, naming authority and date, particularly its treatment of nonphotosynthetic relatives.
- The listed kinds describe morphology and cellular differentiation, not a formal division into taxonomic classes.
- Species binomials, conservation assessments, life cycles and geographic ranges require narrower taxon records; they cannot be assigned uniformly to this phylum.
- Which of these check these first hold for the sense of Cyanobacteriota this model covers, and on what evidence? provenance
Kinds and varieties
Recalled without web access and unsourced; every item is a lead to verify.
- Unicellular forms
- Colonial forms
- Nonheterocystous filamentous forms
- Heterocyst-forming filamentous forms
- True-branching filamentous forms
- Which of these kinds and varieties hold for the sense of Cyanobacteriota this model covers, and on what evidence? provenance
Identifiers and schemes
Recalled without web access and unsourced; every item is a lead to verify.
- NCBI Taxonomy - Integer taxon identifier - Identifies a taxonomic record; its circumscription and synonyms should be checked against the database version.
- International Code of Nomenclature of Prokaryotes - Cyanobacteriota - A phylum name, not a species binomial; the suffix -ota denotes phylum rank.
- Which of these identifiers and schemes hold for the sense of Cyanobacteriota this model covers, and on what evidence? provenance
Standards and regulation
Recalled without web access and unsourced; every item is a lead to verify.
- International Code of Nomenclature of Prokaryotes, maintained through the International Committee on Systematics of Prokaryotes, governs prokaryotic nomenclature.
- International Code of Nomenclature for algae, fungi, and plants, adopted through International Botanical Congresses, also applies to cyanobacterial nomenclature.
- Which of these standards and regulation hold for the sense of Cyanobacteriota this model covers, and on what evidence? provenance
Real-world use
Recalled without web access and unsourced; every item is a lead to verify.
- Cultivation of selected strains for food supplements and pigments, including products marketed as spirulina.
- Nitrogen-fixing strains used or investigated as agricultural biofertilizers.
- Model organisms for studying photosynthesis, nitrogen fixation and biological clocks.
- Monitoring of cyanobacterial abundance and toxins in drinking-water sources and recreational waters.
- Biotechnology research using photosynthetic strains to produce fuels and chemicals.
- Which of these real-world use hold for the sense of Cyanobacteriota this model covers, and on what evidence? provenance
Typical measurements
Recalled without web access and unsourced; every item is a lead to verify.
- Cell abundance in water - Strongly dependent on habitat, season and bloom conditions; no phylum-wide typical range - cells/mL
- Cyanotoxin concentration in water - Toxin-specific and dependent on strain and environmental conditions; no phylum-wide typical range - µg/L
- Which of these typical measurements hold for the sense of Cyanobacteriota this model covers, and on what evidence? provenance
Failure modes and hazards
Recalled without web access and unsourced; every item is a lead to verify.
- Some strains produce cyanotoxins; toxicity cannot be inferred from membership in the phylum alone.
- Dense blooms can impair water supplies, recreation and aquatic ecosystems.
- Respiration and decomposition of bloom biomass can deplete dissolved oxygen and contribute to fish mortality.
- Some populations produce compounds that cause objectionable tastes and odours in water.
- Misidentifying cyanobacteria as eukaryotic algae can lead to incorrect biological interpretation and monitoring choices.
- Which of these failure modes and hazards hold for the sense of Cyanobacteriota this model covers, and on what evidence? provenance
Regional variation
Recalled without web access and unsourced; every item is a lead to verify.
- Members occur globally in marine, freshwater and terrestrial habitats; distributions belong to particular lineages and populations rather than a single phylum-wide native range.
- Marine picocyanobacteria are prominent in open-ocean communities, while other lineages dominate particular coastal or freshwater environments.
- Bloom composition and seasonality vary with temperature, nutrients, salinity, light and water movement.
- Which of these regional variation hold for the sense of Cyanobacteriota this model covers, and on what evidence? provenance
Neighbouring kinds and how to tell them apart
Recalled without web access and unsourced; every item is a lead to verify.
- Cyanobacteria - Often used for the oxygenic photosynthetic group or as an alternative taxonomic name; whether it is coextensive with Cyanobacteriota depends on the classification.
- Eukaryotic algae - Their cells contain nuclei and membrane-bound organelles; cyanobacterial cells are prokaryotic.
- Chloroplasts - Chloroplasts are organelles descended from cyanobacterial endosymbionts, rather than independent cyanobacterial organisms.
- Anoxygenic phototrophic bacteria - Their photosynthesis does not generate oxygen by splitting water.
- Cyanobacterial bloom - A bloom is a population-level proliferation in an environment, not a taxon.
- Which of these neighbouring kinds and how to tell them apart hold for the sense of Cyanobacteriota this model covers, and on what evidence? provenance
What the second pass must settle
- Which nomenclatural authority, date and classification should anchor this registry entry, and how should conflicting Cyanobacteriota and Cyanobacteria circumscriptions be represented?
- What are the verified NCBI Taxonomy and GBIF identifiers for the chosen concept, and do either include lineages outside the intended registry scope?
- Does the adopted circumscription include nonphotosynthetic lineages, and how must the recognition criteria accommodate them?
- Which curated sources adequately establish the distribution of specialised cells, nitrogen fixation and toxin-production capabilities across member lineages?
- Which conservation assessments and geographic-origin claims are meaningful for subordinate taxa, and which should explicitly remain inapplicable or unresolved at phylum level?