Co-editor Dr. Judith O'Neil, Research Associate Professor at the University of Maryland Center for Environmental Science, added, "We learned that K. brevis is an adaptable and flexible organism. We identified 12 different sources of nutrients that it can take up and use. One of the most interesting things that hadn't previously been taken into account is this organism's ability to not just use sunlight, like plants, but to also consume other single-celled organisms as a nutrient source. Additionally, its migratory behavior and directed swimming allows K. brevis access to nutrient sources everywhere it finds them -- at the surface, bottom and throughout the water column.