The definitions of algae as given by some phycologists are: 1. The term covers a range of photosynthetic organisms, and many are not closely related. Algae is the name given to a large and diverse group of oxygenic, phototrophic, eukaryotic microorganisms. Glowing bacteria might live in our ceilings and light our homes, while algae bioreactors could supply food and fuel. This is called coral bleaching. Groundhog Day Or Groundhog’s Day: What’s The Holiday Really Called? These Uncommon Singular Words Sound So Wrong. The term covers a range of photosynthetic organisms, and many are not closely related. Algae span both terrestrial and marine environments, growing almost anywhere there is water and sunlight. Corals are dependent on light, because the algae are important partners, and they require light. The ejection of the algal partner is called bleaching, because the coral loses its colour. A curious feature of the partnership is that the coral may eject the algae in hard times, and regain them later. [1][3] However, algae are definitely not a monophyletic group,[1] as they do not all descend from a common algal ancestor. algae small aquatic plants occurring as single cells, colonies, or filaments. [2] All true algae have a nucleus within a membrane and chloroplasts inside one or more membranes. They are a polyphyletic group. The term \"algae\" covers many different organisms capable of producing oxygen through photosynthesis (the process of harvesting light energy from the sun to generate carbohydrates). The corals' waste-products provide nutrients for the algae so, as with lichen, both partners gain from the association. Algae are eukaryotic, which means they have a … Comments & Questions. The most familiar algae are the greenish scum that collects in still water. When a coral bleaches, it is not dead. The definition of algae is a single or multi-cellular organism that has no roots, stems or leaves and is often found in water. The human illnesses caused by HABs, though rare, can be debilitating or even fatal. Algae have evolved a number of symbiotic partnerships with other organisms. Some are used as human food or harvested for agar or fertilizer. 2. They provide the food base for most marine food chains. Definition of alga : a plant or plantlike organism of any of several phyla, divisions, or classes of chiefly aquatic usually chlorophyll-containing nonvascular organisms of polyphyletic origin that usually include the green, yellow-green, brown, and red algae in the eukaryotes and especially formerly the cyanobacteria in the prokaryotes Some algae, such as seaweed, look like plants. They are unicellular species which exist individually, or in chains or groups. Bengtson S, Belivanova V, Rasmussen B, Whitehouse M. 2009. Algae, singular alga, members of a group of predominantly aquatic photosynthetic organisms of the kingdom Protista. Flagella 4. The largest and most complex marine algae are called seaweeds. unicellular or multicellular organisms formerly classified as plants, occurring in fresh or salt water or moist ground, that have chlorophyll and other pigments but lack true stems, roots, and leaves. Algae are the basically gigantic, miscellaneous assemblage of Photosynthetic eukaryotic organisms. Some algae may reproduce a lot, and make an algal bloom. algae definition: 1. very simple, usually small plants that grow in or near water and do not have ordinary leaves or…. From algae-powered ships to a rendezvous with an asteroid, see five of the most exciting science and tech projects in the plan. When water is too warm, corals will expel the algae (zooxanthellae) living in their tissues causing the coral to turn completely white. Algae love runoff nutrients, and an algae bloom occurs when nutrient pollution and lots of … They might be the unicellular cell, multicellular or may even live in … Definition of Algae 2. They are a polyphyletic group. Some algae may harm other species. phytoplankton - photosynthetic or plant constituent of plankton; mainly unicellular algae plant life , flora , plant - (botany) a living organism lacking the power of locomotion plankton - the aggregate of small plant and animal organisms that float or drift in great numbers in fresh or salt water The various sorts of algae play significant roles in aquatic ecology. For that reason they are not classified as plants. seaweeds and other algae [+] more examples [-] hide examples [+] Example sentences [-] Hide examples. ~ Simple rootless plants that grow in sunlit waters in proportion to the amount of available nutrients. Algae (one alga, but several algae) are a type of plant-like living things that can make food from sunlight by photosynthesis. Algae do not have the same structures that land plants do, such as leaves, roots, and other organs. Copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Dinoflagellates make a compound that turns the flesh of fish into slime. Kelp grows mostly in shallow marine waters. Stones were usually covered with algae in both the Arkansas and Walnut rivers. Irregular English plurals are already a challenge, but did you know there are irregular singular nouns, too? It’s very difficult to give a precise definition of algae because of their varied nature. Algae, sponges and coral now cover nuns, small children, and the elderly upper class. 11, No. © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Some algae might be one-celled (unicellular) organisms comparable to the size of bacteria, while others may grow to many feet in length like seaweed. Though the prokaryotic cyanobacteria (formerly referred to as blue-green algae) were included as "algae" in older textbooks, it is not now. The list is not complete. Algae are a large and diverse group of simple, typically autotrophic organisms. The controversial "Cambrian" fossils of the Vindhyan are real but more than a billion years older. Euglena are fresh and salt water protists. | Meaning, pronunciation, translations and examples Algae are very important because they make much of Earth’s oxygen, which humans and other animals need to breathe. Corals have evolved structures, often tree-like, which offer the algae maximum access to light. Algae Definition “Alga is a term that describes a large and incredibly diverse group of eukaryotic, photosynthetic lifeforms. Fossilized filamentous algae from the Vindhya basin have been dated back to 1.6 to 1.7 billion years ago.[6]. Flatworms (Platyhelminths) and Polychaete worms (Annelids) are two such groups. Dictionary.com Unabridged The sea slugs graze on coral, and are the same colour as the coral they graze. They are a convenient but very loose term. Various other marine invertebrate groups have members which symbiose with algae. The most famous is the plant-like lichen, which are each formed by a fungus with an alga. Both groups are molluscs. The algal cells are moved to its tentacles, where they continue to live. Algae supply a considerable part of the world's. Seaweed definition: Seaweed is a plant that grows in the sea. Comments & Questions. Like plant cells, some euglenoids are … Definition of Algae: We see some bright green or dark green patches growing on the water surface in ponds, tanks, ditches, lakes etc. algae meaning: 1. very simple, usually small plants that grow in or near water and do not have ordinary leaves or…. “Affect” vs. “Effect”: Use The Correct Word Every Time, “Have” vs. “Has”: When To Use Each One. They have in common only that they are autotrophic: they use natural sources of energy and simple inorganic materials to build their forms. Algae is a term used to describe a large, diverse group of eukaryotic, photosynthetic organisms. Any of various chiefly aquatic, eukaryotic, photosynthetic organisms, ranging in size from single-celled forms to the giant kelp. Algae are organisms, or living things, that are found all over the world. The American Heritage® Stedman's Medical Dictionary Smith, G. M. (1955) defined algae as simple … "Diversity and evolutionary history of plastids and their hosts", "Evaluating support for the current classification of eukaryotic diversity", https://simple.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Algae&oldid=7034778, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License. Toledo: The Town Too Tough for Toxic Water, Artist Jason deCaires Taylor’s Underwater Sculptures Are a Sight to Sea, It’s the End of the World but We’ll Be Fine, Five Coolest Things in Obama’s New Budget Proposal, Fishes of Chautauqua, Cowley and Elk Counties, Kansas, Makers of British Botany; a collection of biographies by living botanists, Ohio Biological Survey, Bull. [4] Modern taxonomists propose splitting them up into monophyletic groups, but not everyone agrees how to do this.[4][5]. Affinities. Words named after people are called "eponyms." Algae produce oxygen during sunlight hours and use oxygen during the night hours. The New Dictionary of Cultural Literacy, Third Edition Unlike higher plants, microalgae do not have roots, stems, or leaves. Algae, like plants, are photosynthetic organisms. The study of algae is called phycology or algology. Less well known are the algal relationships with animals. any of numerous groups of chlorophyll-containing, mainly aquatic eukaryotic organisms ranging from microscopic single-celled forms to multicellular forms 100 feet (30 meters) or more long, distinguished from plants by the absence of true roots, stems, and leaves and by a lack of nonreproductive cells in the reproductive structures: classified into the six phyla Euglenophyta, Crysophyta, Pyrrophyta, Chlorophyta, Phaeophyta, and Rhodophyta. Algae Definition. Nearly all algae have parts that do photosynthesis the same way as cyanobacteria. His special field was that of the Marine Algae, in which he stood unrivalled. Some algae can grow on rocks, soil or vegetation as long as there is enough moisture. 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