• Relatively new bioindicator-group for paleolimnology
• There are some problems with identifying them - there can be a lot of variation in one species
  • Scanning electron microscope is often required
• Many of the cysts not been assigned to a species, we just give them "morphotype" names with numbers and such
• Shape can be described as round to oval

Life cycle

• Cysts are viable in sediments for decades, even in anoxic environments
• Essential part of the light cycle

Environmental factors

• Many factors affect them, and it's difficult to determine which one is the most dominant

Further challenges (undefined research)

• We need to determine which cysts are produced by which taxa
• We need to study cysts living in extreme envionments
  • Tropical and wetland taxa are not well studied as well

Conclusion

• These are good to use as an additional piece of data along with other things
• Should be some info here: http://www.stomatocysts.unibe.ch/