GENERAL CHARACTERISTICS

1. Algae lack true roots, stems and leaves (with vascular tissues); such a body is called a thallus. Plants with such a body are called thallophytes.

HANDOUTS ON ALGAE

2. Have chlorophyll a as their primary photosynthetic pigment. 3. Vascular and supporting tissues have not evolved in the algae. 4. Possibly the only structures possessed by all higher plants that never occur in the algae are: a protective sterile jacket of sterile cells surrounding the developing gametes, and; an embryo stage in the life cycle.

HABITAT
1) They are attached to tree trunks or branches, to the bottom of streams, to soil particles, or to rocky intertidal cliffs battered by surf. 2) They are also found growing symbiotically with other plants or animals. 3) Algae occur in the most severe habitats on earth. 4) Probably the most commonly noticed natural urban habitats for algae are the sides of glass fish tanks. 5) They are also generally found around leaking faucets and in garden or park pools that are not kept pure with chemicals. 6) The bloom occurring during the summer on many lakes or the scum found on ponds is actually algae.

HABIT: (THALLUS ORGANIZATION)

1. Thallus organization: unicellular, colonial, filamentous, siphonaceous (tubular, coenocytic), membranous (foliose), generally, multicellular ones lack organized tissues. 2. Filamentous cell division occurs in one plane, with the products of cell division remaining attached to each other to form a filament. Filaments can be uniseriate (composed of a single row of cells) or multiseriate (composed of more than one row of cells. 3. Heterotrichous this is the highly evolved type of habit, with the thallus consisting of different parts: (1) a prostrate creeping system anchoring the thallus to the substrate, and (2) a projecting or erect system composed of usually branched filaments.

HABIT: (THALLUS ORGANIZATION)

5. Siphonaceous enlargement of the plant body occurs with multiplication of organelles but without septation. This siphonaceous or coenocytic structure is multinucleate and has a large number of chloroplasts. 6. Coenobium - a colony of unicellular organisms surrounded by a common membrane and is composed of a definite number and arrangement. 7. Membranous an expanded sheath that may be composed of a single layer (monostromatic) or two layers of cells (distromatic). 8. Coralline - are calcareous in nature. These are brittle plants because of calcium carbonate in their cell walls.

NUTRITION
1. Algae can be either autotrophic (lithotrophic or holophytic) or heterotrophic (organotrophic). 2. If they are autotrophic, they use inorganic compounds as a source of carbon. Autotrophs can be: a) photoautotrophic, using light as a source of energy, or b) chemoautotrophic, oxidizing inorganic compounds for energy. 3. If they are heterotrophic, the algae use organic compounds for growth. Heterotrophs can be: a. photoheterotrophs, using light as a source of energy, or b. chemoheterotrophs, oxidizing organic compounds for energy. c. phagocytotic, absorbing food particles whole into food vesicles for digestion.

MOTILITY
Algal motile cells can have different arrangements of flagella. If the flagella are of equal length, they are called isokont. If they are of unequal length, they are called anisokont flagella; and If they form a ring on one end of the cell, they are called stephanokont flagella. Heterokont refers to an organism with a hairy and a smooth flagellum.

PIGMENTS
Carotenoids are yellow, orange, or red pigments that usually occur inside the plastid. In general, naturally occurring carotenoids can be divided into two classes: (1)oxygen-free hydrocarbons, the carotenes; and (2)their oxygenated derivatives, the xanthophylls. The most widespread carotene in the algae is -carotene. Fucoxanthin is the principal xanthophylls in the golden-brown algae (Chrysophyceae, Bacillariophyceae, and Phaeophyceae), giving these algae their characteristic color. Phycobiliproteins are water-soluble blue or red pigments located on (Cyanophyta, Rhodophyta) or inside (Cryptophyta) thylakoids of algal chloroplasts.

PIGMENTS
The photosynthetic algae have chlorophyll in their chloroplasts. The algae have four types of chlorophyll, a, b, c, and d. 1. Chlorophyll a is the primary photosynthetic pigment. 2. Chlorophyll b is found in the Euglenophyta and Chlorophyta . 3. Chlorophyll c is found in the Dinophyta, and Cryptophyta. 4. Chlorophyll d is a minor component in the extracts of many Rhodophyta.

Reproduction
There are several types of sexual reproduction, depending on the structure and function of the gametes. Gametes are formed by gametogenesis. 1. In isogamy, the fusion of morphologically and physiologically similar gametes occur. 2. In anisogamy, the motile gametes are structurally and morphologically different. The larger gamete is the female, and the smaller is the male. 3. In oogamy, there is the fusion of a large non-motile egg or ovum with a smaller motile sperm. Oogamy is regarded as the most advanced type of sexual reproduction, and isogamy is the most primitive type.

STORAGE FOOD
1. Floridean starch this substance occurs in the Rhodophyta and is similar to the amylopectin of higher plants. 2. Myxophycean starch found in the Cyanophyta, myxophycean starch has a similar structure to glycogen. 3. Starch in the Chlorophyta, starch is composed of amylase and amylopectin. It occurs inside the chloroplast in the form of starch grains. 4. Laminarin in the Phaeophyceae, it occurs as an oil-like liquid outside of the chloroplasts, commonly in a vesicle surrounding the pyrenoid. 5. Chrysolaminarin in the Chrysophyceae, Pyrmnesiophyta, and Bacillariophyceae. It occurs in vesicles outside of the chloroplast and has more glucose residues per molecule than laminarin. 6. Paramylon in the Euglenophyta, Xanthophyceae. It occurs as water-soluble, single-membrane-bounded inclusions of various shapes and dimensions outside of the chloroplast.

ECONOMIC IMPORTANCE
1. Has an important role in maintaining an adequate level of oxygen in the animals environment. 2. They have been referred to as the grasses of the oceans. 3. Other algae contain antibiotic properties against certain diseases. 4. Various products of alginic acid (Brown algae) are used in the textile industry and also to improve the texture of commercial ice cream. 5. Colloidal extracts from a number of marine red algae (Gelidium robustum) are the basis for the purified product known as agar. 6. A red algae, Chondrus crispus, often called carrageenan, have colloids that are widely used in food products such as chocolate milk and ice cream.

DIVISION CYANOPHYTA
Clean and polluted waters Salt and fresh waters Stagnant and flowing waters Hot springs Arctic lakes Rice paddies Tree barks and stones Footpaths Plant pots

DIVISION CYANOPHYTA: GENERAL CHARACTERISTICS

Prokaryotic Other terms to designate blue-green algae: Cyanophycophyta, Cyanochloronta, Myxophycophyta, and Cyanobacteria. Pigments chlorophyll a, aphycocyanin (blue), cphycoerythrin (red), beta carotene, several xanthophylls Stored food or reserved food cyanophycean starch Photoautotrophic
Reproduction in blue-green algae is by cell division in the unicellular species and by fragmentation in the colonial and filamentous ones. Some blue-green algae produce minute spores (exospores). Sexual reproduction by union of gametes to form zygotes has not been observed in blue-green algae. Although not flagellated almost all species show the ability for slow motility like gliding or slow waving of the apical cell.

Specialized cells
Heterocysts barrelshaped, enlarged cells with thickened walls, transparent protoplasm. Site of nitrogen fixation.
Separation disc double concave discs of gelatinous material formed between two adjoining vegetative cells; separates trichomes into hormogones.

Separation disc

Specialized cells
Akinete a thick walled nonmotile spore derived from a vegetative cell, give rise to filaments. Filament refers to both trichome and its enclosing sheath Trichome chain of cells

Habit (thallus organization)

Unicellular Colonial non-coenobic Filamentous filaments are composed of a chain of cells the trichome and the sheath, unbranched, false branched, true branched.

Unicellular organisms (Gloeocapsa sp.) Frequently encountered on moist rocks and walls and on flowerpots in greenhouses. The sheaths may be colored in the living cells and usually are thicker and more prominent. Its colonies are complex since it is composed of more individual cells.

Filamentous
Oscillatoria sp.
Occurs floating in aquatic habitats or on damp soil. Exhibit an oscillating motion, as well as rotation and forward and backward movement along their long axes. All the cells of the trichome are capable of division resulting in an increase in their size.

Anabaena sp.
A genus that contains both planktonic species and some that form coatings on other aquatic vegetation is widespread in bodies of fresh and salt water. Have heterocysts and akinetes. Endophytic

Filamentous
Nostoc sp. Commonly known as starjelly or witches butter
The plant mass may be spherical, ovoidal, or sheetlike. Have heterocysts and akinetes Endophytic

Scytonema sp. A genus widely distributed on moist rocks and soil, where it forms dark, blackish, felty coatings. Its sheaths are thick, firm, sometimes lamellated and yellow-brown in older parts of the plant body. False branching takes place.

Filamentous
Rivularia sp.
False branching also takes place, it differs from Scytonema in that their filaments are united in spherical attached colonies and they taper from base to apex. The basal vegetative cell of each filament becomes transformed into a heterocyst. Akinetes are lacking

According to cell structure

Spirulina sp.
Long been valued as a food source; it is high in protein, and can be cultivated in ponds quite easily. In the US, the popularity of Spirulina is primarily as a "health food", being sold in stores as a dried powder or in tablet form.
Homocystinae have cells that are uniform in size. Their cells are mostly vegetative, branched and do not possess any heterocyst. Heterocystinae possesses heterocyst and akinetes. Their cells are unbranched and made up of filaments. They are good materials for fertilizing plants because they have thicker cell walls and possess heterocysts which are responsible for nitrogen-fixation.

DIVISION EUGLENOPHYTA
HABITAT Almost all of which are found in freshwaters puddles, ditches, ponds, streams, lakes and rivers; particularly waters contaminated by animal pollution or decaying organic matter. Most often found in small pools rich in organic matter. The pigmented forms, especially Euglena, are frequently present in sufficient abundance to color the water.

General characteristics
Pigments present: Chlorophyll a & b with beta carotene only, and contain at least one xanthophylls. Thalli organization: The cells are solitary and never united in colonies. Reserve Food: Food reserve consists of paramylum (an insoluble carbohydrate related to starch) and fats. Flagella of Euglenales are inserted in the base of the reservoir and project through the cytopharynx and cytosome. Uniflagellate genera flagellum projecting forward. Biflagellate genera - have both flagella of equal length, one projecting forward and the other trailing. Flagella of Euglenales are of the so-called tinsel type in which there are delicate hair-like appendages along the length of the flagellum. These appendages are called mastigonemes.

General characteristics
Cell Shape: The exterior portion of the cytoplasm is always differentiated into a periplast. The periplast may be so rigid that the cells have a fixed shape, or it may be so flexible that the shape of a cell is constantly changing as it swims through the water.

Asexual Reproduction
Multiplication is by cell division and may take place while cells are actively motile or after they have come to rest. Thick walled resting stages (cysts) surrounded by a firm wall are known for many genera. Sometimes the cyst is of the same general shape as a motile cell, but more often it is quite different in shape and either spherical or polygonal.
Reproduction - diverse Sexual reproduction possibly motile gametes or conjugation tubes

Asexual reproduction usually binary fission

Encystment

Germ ination Vegetative cell resist ant cell (resting stage)

HABITAT
fresh and marine waters on moist wood and rocks and on the surface of and within soil. Epiphytic Form water blooms Cryoflora Form association with fungi

Asexual reproduction
Chloroplasts shape
SpiralSpiral-shaped chloroplasts

THALLUS
Unicellular (non-motile and motile) Colonial (coenobic and noncoenobic) Filamentous (simple, branched, heterotrichous) Membranous Siphonous

Pigments present
The cells contain: chlorophyll a and b and -carotenes Xanthophylls Pyrenoids are present in the chloroplasts of most Chlorophyta. They are the centers of formation of the enzyme amylose synthetase, which combines glucose molecules into starch.
band/ girdleshaped chloroplasts

cell division (unicellular forms) fragmentation (colonial and filamentous types) production of special reproductive cells as zoospores, aplanospores and autospores. Colonial genera reproduce by daughter-colony formation.

reticulated/ netnet-like chloroplasts

Motile organisms (Colonial)

Its slightly ovoidal colonies may contain thousand of cells arranged at the periphery of the matrix. The protoplasts of the individual cells are connected by delicate protoplasmic extensions. Sexual reproduction is oogamous. The enlarged cells within the colony are called zoospores

Non-motile organism Unicellular (Azoosporic)

fresh, salt water and in soil. The protoplast is composed of a cuplike chloroplast, which may or may not contain a pyrenoid.

Asexual reproduction of unicellular genera is by cell division preceded by mitosis. Organized as two semicells that are mirror images of each other; the connecting region is known as isthmus. Flagellate motile cells are absent.
Isthmus

Hydrodictyon sp.
water net The mature colonies are composed of large cylindrical cells joined together in polygonal configurations, the whole colony being cylindrical. The young cells are uninucleate.

Non-motile organism (colonial azoosporic)

Pediastrum sp.
Coenobic colonies (flat plates) grow on the bottom of quiet pools and lakes as well as in their plankton and may readily be grown.

Filamentous organisms - zoosporic

Ulothrix sp.
The cells of each filament are similar to one another except that the basal cell is modified as an attaching structure, the holdfast. The cells contain partial or complete band-shaped chloroplasts with more than one pyrenoid and are uninucleate.

Oedogonium sp.
It grows frequently as an epiphyte on other algae and aquatic angiosperms. It may also be attached to stones or free-floating. The cells contain segmented, netlike chloroplasts with pyrenoids.

Scenedesmus sp.
This coenobic alga is ubiquitous. It consists of a colony comprising four or more elongate cells united laterally. have spinelike processes. The uninucleate cells have a parietal chloroplast containing a single pyrenoid.

Cladophora sp.
Widespread in both fresh and marine waters, where they may be freefloating or attached to rocks or vegetation.

Coenocytic and Tubular Filamentous organisms - azoosporic

Spirogyra sp.
It often form floating, bright-green, frothy, and/or slimy masses in small bodies of water in the spring of the year and are frequently referred to as pond scums. Masses of the plants are slimy to the touch, because the filaments are surrounded by pectic sheaths. It has a spiral arrangement of ribbonlike chloroplasts.

The unit of organization is a centrally vacuolated tube or siphon. The plant has a complete lack or rare production of cross walls. It is multinucleate and coenocytic in form lacking septa, the cytoplasm is continuous throughout the plant body. A siphonous plant habit has no septations and cross-walls, but there may be septation because of the development of the reproductive structures to separate it from the other structures.

Membranous
The plant body of a membranous green algae is composed of a single layer (monostromatic) or two layers of cells (distromatic). A membranous plant habit is an expanded sheath.

Acetabularia sp. Known as the mermaids wine goblet or mermaids parasol, a calcified organism widely distributed in subtropical and tropical waters.

The plant consists of a branching axis on which arise whorls or smaller branches of limited growth, often called leaves.

DIVISION CHAROPHYTA General characteristics

Cell walls contain cellulose and are calcified. Pigments: chlorophylls a and b, carotene and xanthophylls. Reserve food: starch Sperms are biflagellated

Reproduction
Reproduction in the Charophyta is oogamous and the gametes are produced in specialized complex structures usually called antheridia and oogonia, but sometimes designated the globule and nucule, respectively. The reproductive structures are borne on the leaves. The mature male reproductive organ consists of chains of colorless cells, each of which produces a single sperm, surrounded by several types of sterile accessory cells, the whole structure is stalked. The female reproductive organ of the Charophyta consists of a fertile cell, the oogonium proper, surrounded by spirally elongate sterile cells, the tube cells. The apices of these are delimited to form the five cells of the corona or crown.

The lower portions of the axes are anchored to the substratum by branching filaments, the rhizoids. The rhizoids serve as organs of vegetative propagation, giving rise to erect green shoots. Branches arise at the nodes among the leaf base. Have nodes and internodes, cortication of the axes and leaves, and the occurrence of special cellular sheaths around the sexual organs.

DIVISION XANTHOPHYTA General characteristics

Yellow-green algae Pigments: chlorophyll a, carotene, and several xanthophylls pigments. Reserved food: Droplets of oil and granules called leucosin, or chrysolaminarin Flagellation: The flagella are of unequal length, the longer tinsel and the shorter whiplash in organization.

DIVISION BASCILLARIOPHYTA General characteristics

Pigments: chlorophylls a and c, -carotene and fucoxanthin (largely responsible for the color of diatoms). Reserved food: oil and chrysolaminarin. Diatoms may be strictly unicellular, colonial, or filamentous. They are divided into two types on the basis of symmetry. the pennate diatoms, bilateral symmetry ; and centric diatoms, radial symmetry. Cell wall: The wall is impregnated with polymerized opaline silica.

DIVISION PYRROPHYTA General characteristics

Pigments: chlorophylls a and c, -carotene, several xanthophylls (peridinin and dinoxanthin). Reserved food: Starch accumulates both within the chloroplast and colorless cytoplasm, and oils may also be stored. Flagellation: One flagellum is elongate, usually extending posteriorly with reference to the direction of motion. The second flagellum, which emerges from the same point as the first, is ribbon-like and lies in a transverse groove in which it undergoes undulating movement. Both flagella are of the tinsel type. Causes Red Tide.

DIVISION PHAEOPHYTA General characteristics

Pigments present: fucoxanthin is dominant over chlorophylls a and c, the other xanthophylls and -carotene. Reserved food: No starch; laminarin, mannitol, or fat droplets. The protoplast is bounded by a primary wall and middle lamella composed of a gummy substance, the alginic acid. Alginic acid has considerable commercial importance as a stabilizer, emulsifier, and coating for paper. Flagella: laterally or subapically biflagellate. The longer, usually anterior, flagellum is of the tinsel type, and the shorter, posterior one is whiplash. Thallus: FILAMENTOUS, Many have considerable complexity of structure, as manifested in their leaflike, stemlike, and rootlike organs, which exhibit obvious histological differentiation.

Life cycle
Three kinds of life cycles: Isomorphic alternation of generation (Isogeneratae) Heteromorphic alternation of generation (Heterogeneratae) Alternation of many-celled diploid generation, only 2N generation (Cyclosporae).

Filamentous Brown Algae, e.g. Ectocarpus

(filaments with plurilocular and unilocular sporangia)

Ectocarpus sp.
A simple brown algae commonly growing on stones and shells or epiphytically on larger marine algae. It is a branching filamentous plant in which erect filaments arise from an attached prostrate branched system. The mature cells contain band-shaped plastids with pyrenoidlike bodies.
<Plurilocular sporangium <Unilocular sporangium

Habitat - Ocean shores, on rocks and larger seaweeds, worldwide

Sporophyte>

Diploid
Fertilization

Laminaria - characteristics
Typical morphology: Holdfast for attachment Stipe for support Blade for photosynthesis and nutrient uptake Reproduction: sexual 2 generations: small gametophyte, large sporophyte

Diploid zospores

Meiosis

n.b. MEIOSIS occurs in UNILOCULAR sporangia and MITOSIS in PLURILOCULAR sporangia

Gametes

Haploid
Mitosis

Haploid zospores

Gametophyte>

Life History of Ectocarpus Isomorphic Alternation of Generations

Dictyota
Growth in the blades of Dictyota is geometric in precision and may be traced to a prominent, dome-shaped cell.

Fucus
Flat, dichotomously branched fronds, short stipe, round holdfast Conspicuous midrib: simple transport system Bladders present or absent

A tropical relative of the Rockweeds - Sargassum

Economic importance of Brown Algae

Used as emulsifiers and industrials gums In Europe, kelps and rockweeds were burned for their soda, used in glazing and glass making, from the 17th Century. In the early 19th Century, iodine was extracted from kelp ash. Algin, first discovered in the 1880s, is a complex organic compound used in dozens of different products, including toothpaste, ice cream, milk shakes and textiles. In parts of Europe, kelps and rockweeds are used as manure, and occasionally as livestock feed. The Japanese use Laminaria spp. to make Kombu and another brown alga, Undaria, to make Wakame

n.b. floats are on separate branches. Two species of Sargassum (S. natans and S. fluitans, are freefloating, and are not known to reproduce sexually. Typical of the Sargasso Sea, and known as Sargasso Weed or Gulf Weed.

DIVISION RHODOPHYTA General characteristics

Pigments: chlorophylls a and d (when present) and the carotenoids are largely concealed by a red pigment, phycoerythrin. Reserved food: Floridean starch Thalli organization: unicellular, filamentous, membranous, foliaceous, quite large but not as large as the browns; more delicate, more slimy and soft, attached, benthic. The cellulose cell wall is often surrounded by a slimy layer. Other components such as xylan are present in the walls of some red algae.

Life History: 3 phases

1. Tetrasporophyte (2n): produces tetraspores by meiosis 2. Gametophyte (n): Tetraspores germinate to form gametophytes, produce gametes by mitosis 3. Carposporophyte (2n): results from the fusion of gametes, develops on the female gametophyte plant produces diploid spores called carpospores by mitosis (carpospores new tetrasporophyte plant)

Porphyra
The brown-purple or rose-tinted, Ulva-like plant bodies of Porphyra grow attached to rocks or to larger marine algae. The fronds may become more than a foot in length. They are composed of one or two layers of cells. The plants are attached to the substratum by rhizoidal holdfasts.

Peculiarities in the Life Cycle of Polysiphonia

TWO sporophytic and one gametophytic phase The ogonium has a unique appearance and function, and is therefore called a CARPOGONIUM Because the male gametes are non-motile, they are known as SPERMATIA The first sporophytic phase, known as the CARPOSPOROPHYTE, is small, and remains attached to the female gametophyte. It produces CARPOSPORES by mitosis Carpospores germinate into TETRASPOROPHYTES, which look like the gametophyte, but produce haploid TETRASPORES by meiosis.

Polysiphonia
It is also widely distributed in marine waters, where it grows both epiphytically on larger algae and aquatic flowering plants and also on rocks and woodwork.

Life cycle of Polysiphonia

tetraspores