algae

     

Algae (sing. alga) are a large an diverse group of simple, typically autotrophic organisms, ranging from unicellular to multicellular forms. The largest and most complex marine forms are called seaweeds. They are photosynthetic, like plants, and "simple" because they lack the many of the distinct organs found in land plants. Though the prokaryotic cyanobacteria (commonly referred to as blue-green algae) were traditionally included as "algae" in older textbooks, many modern sources regard this as outdated and restrict the term algae to eukaryotic organisms. All true algae therefore have a nucleus enclosed within a membrane and chloroplasts bound in one or more membranes. Algae constitute a paraphyletic and polyphyletic group: they do not represent a single evolutionary direction or line, but a level or grade of organization that may have developed several times in the early history of life on Earth.

Trivia about algae

  • If these green organisms are taking over, try introducing a fish called the Siamese them-eater
  • Kelp, the largest seaweed known, is a brown form of this primitive plant
  • One day soon we may go even greener with fuel made from these green goopy simple aquatic organisms
  • Varieties of these simple plants include red, brown, green & blue-green
  • Kelp is a visible example of these; spirogyra is a microscopic one
  • These primitive aquatic plants are similar to bryophytes in that they lack true stems, roots & leaves
  • The three-toed sloth is so sedentary that these organisms, that include seaweed, grow on its fur, providing camouflage
  • The monera kingdom consists of bacteria & the blue-green species of this
  • A fungus gets mighty cozy when it teams up with one of these organisms to live symbiotically as a lichen
  • Lichens, plants that grow on rocks, are made up of two types of organisms: a fungus & this
  • Lakes often look bluish green because of an abundance of the blue-green type of this
  • A lichen is a living partnership between a fungus & one of these plant-like organisms such as seaweed
  • Moss doesn't grow on a slow-moving sloth but blue-green this does, giving its fur a green hue
  • A phycologist needs no cough to study these aquatic organisms, which include seaweeds like kelp
  • These chlorophyll-containing organisms include the pyrrophyta & rhodophyta
  • These primitive plants are usually grouped according to color: brown, red, blue-green, golden...