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Chlorophyta

 
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Chlorophyta
 
 
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Chlorophyta, a division of green algae
Green algae

The green algae are the large group of algae from which the embryophytes emerged. As such, they form a paraphyletic group, although the group including both green algae and embryophytes is monophyletic ....
, includes about 7000 species
Species

In biology, a species is one of the basic units of biological classification and a taxonomic rank. A species is often defined as a group of organisms capable of interbreeding and producing fertile offspring....
 of mostly aquatic
Aquatic ecosystem

An aquatic ecosystem is an ecosystem located in water bodies. Biocoenosis of biota that are dependent on each other and on their environment live in aquatic ecosystems....
 photosynthetic eukaryotic organisms. Like the land plants (bryophyte
Bryophyte

Bryophytes are all embryophytes that are non-vascular plant: they have tissues and enclosed reproductive systems, but they lack vascular tissue that circulates liquids....
s and tracheophytes), green algae contain chlorophylls a and b, and store food as starch
Starch

File:Amylose2.svgFile:Amylopektin Sessel.svgStarch or amylum is a polysaccharide carbohydrate consisting of a large number of glucose units joined together by glycosidic bonds....
 in their plastids. They are related to the Charophyta
Charophyta

The Charophyta are a division of green algae, including the closest relatives of the embryophyte plants. In some groups, such as conjugating green algae, flagellate cells do not occur....
 and Embryophyta (land plants), together making up the Viridiplantae
Viridiplantae

Viridiplantae are a clade comprising the green algae and embryophyte plants.In some classification systems they have been treated as a kingdom , under various names, e.g....
.

The division contains both unicellular and multicellular species.






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Chlorophyta, a division of green algae
Green algae

The green algae are the large group of algae from which the embryophytes emerged. As such, they form a paraphyletic group, although the group including both green algae and embryophytes is monophyletic ....
, includes about 7000 species
Species

In biology, a species is one of the basic units of biological classification and a taxonomic rank. A species is often defined as a group of organisms capable of interbreeding and producing fertile offspring....
 of mostly aquatic
Aquatic ecosystem

An aquatic ecosystem is an ecosystem located in water bodies. Biocoenosis of biota that are dependent on each other and on their environment live in aquatic ecosystems....
 photosynthetic eukaryotic organisms. Like the land plants (bryophyte
Bryophyte

Bryophytes are all embryophytes that are non-vascular plant: they have tissues and enclosed reproductive systems, but they lack vascular tissue that circulates liquids....
s and tracheophytes), green algae contain chlorophylls a and b, and store food as starch
Starch

File:Amylose2.svgFile:Amylopektin Sessel.svgStarch or amylum is a polysaccharide carbohydrate consisting of a large number of glucose units joined together by glycosidic bonds....
 in their plastids. They are related to the Charophyta
Charophyta

The Charophyta are a division of green algae, including the closest relatives of the embryophyte plants. In some groups, such as conjugating green algae, flagellate cells do not occur....
 and Embryophyta (land plants), together making up the Viridiplantae
Viridiplantae

Viridiplantae are a clade comprising the green algae and embryophyte plants.In some classification systems they have been treated as a kingdom , under various names, e.g....
.

The division contains both unicellular and multicellular species. While most species live in freshwater habitats
Freshwater biology

Freshwater ecosystems are among the earth's aquatic ecosystems. They include Lentic system ecology and ponds, Lotic system ecology, streams and spring s, and wetlands....
 and a large number in marine habitats
Marine biology

Marine biology is the scientific study of living organisms in the ocean or other Marine or brackish bodies of water.Given that in biology many scientific classification, families and Genera have some species that live in the sea and others that live on land, marine biology classifies species based on the environment rather than on taxon...
, other species are adapted to a wide range of environments. Watermelon snow
Watermelon snow

Watermelon snow, also called snow algae, is snow that is reddish or pink in color, with the slight scent of a fresh watermelon. This type of snow is common during the summer in alpine and coastal polar regions worldwide, such as the Sierra Nevada of California....
, or Chlamydomonas nivalis, of the class Chlorophyceae, lives on summer alpine snowfields. Others live attached to rocks or woody parts of trees. Some lichen
Lichen

Lichens are composite organisms consisting of a symbiosis association of a fungus with a Photosynthesis partner , usually either a green algae or Cyanobacteria ....
s are symbiotic relationships between fungi and green algae. Members of the Chlorophyta also form symbiotic relationships with protozoa
Protozoa

Protozoan are microorganisms classified as unicellular eukaryotes. While there is no exact definition of the term "protozoan", most scientists use the word to refer to a unicellular heterotrophic protist, such as an amoeba or a ciliate....
, sponges and cnidarians. Some are flagellated and these have an advantage of motility. Some conduct sexual reproduction which is oogamy or isogamy.

Classes

  • Class Bryopsidophyceae
    Bryopsidophyceae

    In alpha taxonomy, the Bryopsidophyceae are a class of green algae, in the division Chlorophyta....
     Bessey
    Charles Edwin Bessey

    Charles Edwin Bessey was an United States botany, born at Milton, Ohio, Ohio. He graduated in 1869 at the Michigan State University. Bessey also studied at Harvard University under Asa Gray, in 1872 and in 1875-76....
  • Class Chlorophyceae
    Chlorophyceae

    The Chlorophyceae are one of the classes of green algae, distinguished mainly on the basis of ultrastructural morphology. For example the chlorophycean CW clade, and chlorophycean DO clade, are defined by the arrangement of their flagella....
     Wille
  • Class Pedinophyceae
    Pedinophyceae

    In alpha taxonomy, the Pedinophyceae are a class of green algae, in the division Chlorophyta....
     Moestrup
  • Class Pleurastrophyceae
    Pleurastrophyceae

    In alpha taxonomy, the Pleurastrophyceae are a class of green algae, in the division Chlorophyta....
     Mattox & K. D. Stewart
  • Class Prasinophyceae
    Prasinophyceae

    In alpha taxonomy, Prasinophytes are a class of the Division Chlorophyta. These are primitive eukaryotic, marine green algae. Its best known genus is Ostreococcus, which is considered to be the smallest free-living eukaryote and which has been detected in marine samples around the world....
     T. A. Chr. ex Ø. Moestrup & J. Throndsen
  • Class Trebouxiophyceae
    Trebouxiophyceae

    In alpha taxonomy, the Trebouxiophyceae are a class of green algae, in the division Chlorophyta....
     T. Friedl
  • Class Ulvophyceae
    Ulvophyceae

    The Ulvophyceae or Ulvophytes are class of green algae, distinguished mainly on the basis of ultrastructural morphology. The sea lettuce, Ulva, belongs here....
     K. R. Mattox & K. D. Stewart
  • Class Caryopoceae Jerry


Classification according to Hoek, Mann and Jahns 1995.
  • Prasinophyceae
  • Chlorophyceae
    Chlorophyceae

    The Chlorophyceae are one of the classes of green algae, distinguished mainly on the basis of ultrastructural morphology. For example the chlorophycean CW clade, and chlorophycean DO clade, are defined by the arrangement of their flagella....
  • Ulvophyceae
  • Cladophorophyceae
  • Bryopsipophycese
  • Dasycladophyceae
  • Trentepoliophyceae
  • Pleurastrophyceae (Pleurastrales and Prasiolales)
  • Klebsormidiophyceae
  • Zygnematophyceae
  • Charophyceae


Classification according to Bold and Wynne (Introduction to the Algae, Second Edition, Prentice Hall NJ)
  • Volvocales
    Volvocales

    In alpha taxonomy, the Volvocales are an order of flagellate or pseudociliate green algae, specifically of the Chlorophyceae. Volvocales can form planar or spherical colonies....
  • Tetrasporales
    Tetrasporales

    In alpha taxonomy, the Tetrasporales are an order of green algae, specifically the Chlorophyceae....
  • Chlorococcales
    Chlorococcales

    Chlorococcales is an Order of green algae in the Class Chlorophyceae. Individual specimens are sometimes found in soil, but mostly in fresh and marine waters. The order contains approximately 780 species....
  • Chlorosarcinales
    Chlorosarcinales

    In alpha taxonomy, the Chlorosarcinales are an order of green algae, specifically the Chlorophyceae....
  • Ulotrichales
    Ulotrichales

    In alpha taxonomy, the Ulotrichales are an order of green algae, specifically the Ulvophyceae....
  • Sphaeropleales
    Sphaeropleales

    In alpha taxonomy, the 'Sphaeropleales' are an order of green algae that used to be called Chlorococcales. This order includes vegetatively non-motile unicellular or colonial taxa that have biflagellate zoospores with flagella that are directly opposed in direction : Sphaeroplea, Atractomorpha, Neochloris, Hydrodictyon, and ...
  • Chaetophorales
    Chaetophorales

    In alpha taxonomy, the Chaetophorales are an order of green algae, specifically the Chlorophyceae....
  • Trentepohliales
    Trentepohliales

    In alpha taxonomy, the Trentepohliales are an order of green algae, specifically the Ulvophyceae....
  • Oedogoniales
    Oedogoniales

    In alpha taxonomy, the Oedogoniales are an order of filamentous freshwater green algae, specifically of the Chlorophyceae. The order is well-defined and has several unique features, including asexual reproduction with zoospores that possess a subapical ring of many short flagella, which are known as stephanokont....
  • Ulvales
    Ulvales

    Ulvales is an order of green algae....
  • Cladophorales
    Cladophorales

    In alpha taxonomy, the Cladophorales are an order of green algae, specifically the Ulvophyceae....
  • Acrosiphoniales
    Acrosiphoniales

    In alpha taxonomy, the Acrosiphoniales are an order of green algae, specifically the Ulvophyceae....
  • Caulerpales
  • Siphonocladales
  • Dasycladales
    Dasycladales

    In taxonomy, the Dasycladales is an Order of large unicellular green algae in the class Ulvophyceae. It contains two families, the Dasycladaceae and the Polyphysaceae....


Further reading

  • Burrows, E.M. 1991. Seaweeds of the British Isles. Volume 2 Chlorophyta. Natural History Museum, London. ISBN 0-565-00981-8