Green Algae

Green algae have many similarities to land plants. It has many variety body types and the multicellular forms do not have cells separated into tissues, which is what divides green algae from land plants. Green algae are a very diverse group of freshwater algae. Many green algae form long filaments. The cells stay attached after they divide. Spirogyra can become so numerous they form dense mats of growth in surfaces of ponds, which is called pond scum. This pond scum is interesting to see through a microscope. The chloroplasts from squeezed green algae have many distinct shapes. In Spirogyra the chloroplast runs through the cell like a helix. Most green algae have flagellate cells during the life cell cycle, which a few of them are non-motile.
The first organization for motility in green algae is unicellular. Unicellular green algae can be either motile or non-motile. Motile green algae usually reproduce asexually by mitosis and cell division. Unicellular non-motile green algae usually produce zoospores. The second type of organization is colonial. In this organization the cells join together in colonies by attaching to one another with cytoplasmic threads. Colonial green algae can also reproduce either sexually or asexually. The third and final type of organization is filamentous. Green algae organized in this way are usually very small almost like microscopic. They can be branched or un-branched and made-up of cells with one nucleus or multiple nuclei. They have membrane-bound chloroplasts and nuclei. Some are symbiotic with fungi giving lichens.
Green algae’s nutrition type is photosynthetic. This means that it stores its main energy reserves as starch. Cell walls with cellulose are present in most green algae. Biologist believes that land plants grew from ancestral green algae. Also biologists want to believe that this big diverse group can be classified as part of the plant kingdom. Green algae played a big part of the evolution of plants. Charophytes are