Morphological traits in nitrogen fixing heterocytous cyanobacteria: possible links between morphology and eco-physiology

Heterocytous cyanobacteria are able to fix nitrogen (in heterocytes) and to produce dormant cells (akinetes). Heterocyte and akinete shape, size, and relative position have taxonomical relevance and possibly ecological value too. We collected—from literature and nature—and compared morphological data on vegetative cells, heterocytes, and akinetes across four genera taxonomically separated from Anabaena. In average, heterocyte size doubled that...