''Aulosira'' is a genus of

cyanobacteria Cyanobacteria ( ) are a group of autotrophic gram-negative bacteria that can obtain biological energy via oxygenic photosynthesis. The name "cyanobacteria" () refers to their bluish green (cyan) color, which forms the basis of cyanobacteri ...

found in a variety of environmental niches that forms

colonies A colony is a territory subject to a form of foreign rule, which rules the territory and its indigenous peoples separated from the foreign rulers, the colonizer, and their '' metropole'' (or "mother country"). This separated rule was often or ...

composed of filaments of moniliform cells. The name ''"Aulosira"'' was invented by biologists. Species of ''Aulosira'' can be found in soil, on moist rocks, at the bottom of lakes and springs (both fresh- and saltwater), and rarely in marine habitats. It may also grow symbiotically within the tissues of

plant Plants are the eukaryotes that form the Kingdom (biology), kingdom Plantae; they are predominantly Photosynthesis, photosynthetic. This means that they obtain their energy from sunlight, using chloroplasts derived from endosymbiosis with c ...

s, such as the evolutionarily ancient ('' Gunnera'') or

hornwort Hornworts are a group of non-vascular Embryophytes (land plants) constituting the division Anthocerotophyta (). The common name refers to the elongated horn-like structure, which is the sporophyte. As in mosses and liverworts, hornworts have a ...

s, providing

nitrogen Nitrogen is a chemical element; it has Symbol (chemistry), symbol N and atomic number 7. Nitrogen is a Nonmetal (chemistry), nonmetal and the lightest member of pnictogen, group 15 of the periodic table, often called the Pnictogen, pnictogens. ...

to its host through the action of terminally differentiated cells known as

heterocysts Heterocysts or heterocytes are specialized nitrogen-fixing cells formed during nitrogen starvation by some filamentous cyanobacteria, such as ''Nostoc'', ''Cylindrospermum'', and '' Anabaena''. They fix nitrogen from dinitrogen (N2) in the air ...

. These bacteria contain photosynthetic pigments in their cytoplasm to perform

photosynthesis Photosynthesis ( ) is a system of biological processes by which photosynthetic organisms, such as most plants, algae, and cyanobacteria, convert light energy, typically from sunlight, into the chemical energy necessary to fuel their metabo ...

References

; Sources
"''Aulosira'' Kirchner ex Bornet & Flahault, 1886: 256"
www.algaebase.org. Nostocales Cyanobacteria genera {{cyanobacteria-stub