Algae
General Characteristics
 Algae are relatively simple eukaryotic photoautotrophs
that lack the tissues (roots, stem and leaves) of plants.
 The identification of unicellular and filamentous algae
requires microscopic examination.
 Most are found in the ocean.
 locations depend on the availability of nutrients,
wavelengths of light, & surfaces on which to grow
 Algae are familiar as the large brown kelp in coastal
waters, the green scum in a puddle, and the green stains
on soil or on rocks.
 A few algae are responsible for food poisonings. Some
algae are unicellular; others form chains of cells (are
filamentous); and a few have thalli.
 Algae is not a taxonomic group; it is a way to describe
photoautotrophs that lack the roots and stems of plants.
 Algae are mostly aquatic, although some are found in soil
or on trees when sufficient moisture is available there.
 Unusual algal habitats include the hair of both the
sedentary South American sloth and the polar bear.
Water is necessary for physical support, reproduction,
and the diffusion of nutrients.
 Generally, algae are found in cool temperate waters,
although the large floating mats of the brown alga
Sargassum are found in the subtropical Sargasso Sea.
Some species of brown algae grow in Antarctic waters.
Habitat
 Although unicellular and filamentous algae can be found
on land, they frequently exist in marine and freshwater
environments as plankton.
 Multicellular green, brown, and red algae require a
suitable attachment site, adequate water for support, and
light of the appropriate wavelengths.
 Macrocystis porifera, a brown alga. The hollow stipe and
gas-filled pneumatocysts hold the thallus upright ensuring
that sufficient sunlight is received for growth.
 Microcladia, a red alga. The delicately branched red algae
get their color from phycobiliprotein accessory pigments.
Vegetative Structures
 The body of a multicellular alga is called a thallus. Thalli of
the larger multicellular algae, those commonly called
seaweeds, consist of branched holdfasts (which anchor
the alga to a rock), stemlike and often hollow stipes, and
leaflike blades.
 The cells covering the thallus can carry out
photosynthesis. The thallus lacks the conductive tissue
(xylem and phloem) characteristic of vascular plants;
algae absorb nutrients from the water over their entire
surface.
 The stipe is not lignified or woody, so it does not offer the
support of a plant’s stem; instead, the surrounding water
supports the algal thallus.
 Some algae are also buoyed by a floating gas-filled
bladder called a pneumatocyst.
Life Cycle
 All algae can reproduce asexually. Multicellular algae with
thalli and filamentous forms can fragment; each piece is
capable of forming a new thallus or filament.
 When a unicellular alga divides, its nucleus divides
(mitosis), and the two nuclei move to opposite parts of
the cell. The cell then divides into two complete cells
(cytokinesis).
 Sexual reproduction occurs in algae. In some species,
asexual reproduction may occur for several generations
and then, under different conditions, the same species
reproduce sexually.
 Other species alternate generations so that the offspring
resulting from sexual reproduction reproduce asexually,
and the next generation then reproduces sexually.
Nutrition
 Most algae are photosynthetic; however, the oomycetes,
or fungal-like algae, are chemoheterotrophs.
 Photosynthetic algae are found throughout the photic
(light) zone of bodies of water. Chlorophyll α (a light-
trapping pigment) and accessory pigments involved in
photosynthesis are responsible for the distinctive colors
of many algae.