SIMILARITIES AND DISSIMILARITIES OF ALGAE AND PLANTS

Presented By; Muhammad Asif M.Sc Botany 2nd semester Roll No. 10

ALGAE

WHAT ARE ALGAE? Photosynthesizin

g protists. All contain up to

4 kinds of chlorophyll.

Unicellular and multicellular.

ALGAE CHARACTERISTICS Body is a relatively

simple simple unicellular or multicellular thallus, not differentiated into roots, stems and leaves.

Cells are covered by a rigid cellulose cell wall.

Presence of holdfast, stipe and lamina. Holdfast is for attachment, stipe forms the axis, and lamina serves as the leaf like photosynthetic part.

Reproduction occurs by vegetative, asexual and sexual methods

Vegetative reproduction is by fragmentation, hormogonia, akinetes etc.

Asexual reproduction is by motile zoospores, or by non motile apalnospores, autospores, hypnospores, exospores, endospores, carpsospores etc. Spores are produced in sporangia.

Sexual reproduction may be isogamous, anisogamous or oogamous. Oogamous species possess antheridia and oogonia.

PLANTS

PLANT CHARACTERISTICS All plants possess a

cuticle, a waxy covering on aerial parts that reduces drying or desiccation.

A plant is differentiated into root, shoot, stem, leaf and flower.

Their cells have cell walls composed mainly of cellulose.

Their cells contain Chlorophyll contained in Chloroplasts.

Their cells usually have large vacuoles.

Store carbohydrates as starch. Their life cycles are

characterized by Alternation of Generation where a Haploid Gametophyte alternates with a Diploid Sporophyte.

SIMILARITIES AND DISSIMILARITIES OF ALGAE AND PLANTS

SIMILARITIES HABITAT Both plants and

algae can grow in water, so this is a characteristic they share. However, algae grows exclusively in water, whereas plants grow either in the soil or in water, depending on their variety.

CELL STRUCTURES The structural make-up of cells from green

algae and plants share similarities in terms of their materials and the types of cell activities that take place. The membrane walls of both cell types contain 20 to 25 percent cellulose.

The cells of both life forms are also lined with specialized thylakoid membranes, which contain light-absorbing chlorophyll materials.

METABOLIC PROCESSES Plant metabolism processes are designed to

convert light energy into glucose, which acts as food for the plant body. These processes also take place within green algae organisms.

PHOTOSYNTHESIS Both undergo photosynthesis. Which means they both contain chlorophyll and they both can make their own food. Which means they are both autotrophic (“auto”=self,

“trophic”=feeding)FUNCTION There are some shared characteristics

between algae and plants in their uses and functions. Both algae and plants exist, in part, to be eaten by living creatures.

REPRODUCTION They have the same life cycle

called alternation of generations. Plants and some varieties of algae

perform meiosis, which is a division of the reproductive cells, to ensure genetic diversity.

They also both produce male and female gametes in order to fertilize themselves

ALTERNATION OF GENERATION

DISSIMILARITIESHABITAT The vast majority

of algae species are aquatic with a few adapted to extremely damp terrestrial environments. Most plants on the other hand are confined, and very well adapted, to land.

PLANT BODY The body of plants is

well differentiated into roots, stems, leaves, flowers, fruits, seeds and cones.

The agal body is not differentiated into roots, stems, leaves, flowers rather it is in the form of a thallus.

VASCULAR SYSTEM Plants possess vascular systems, which allow

for the uptake and transport of water and nutrients.

Algae do not possess vascular system and each cell in algae must obtain its own nutrients from water for survival.

STRUCTURE All plants are multicellular while most species of

algae are single-celled organisms. Multicellular algae forms -- seaweeds -- do exist but they are in the minority.

DEVELOPMENT Plants develop from an embryo, a characteristic

they share with animals. Algae don't.

FEEDING Green plants and many species of algae create

their own food from sunlight by photosynthesis. However, some types of algae are partially or

primarily hetereotrophs, they obtain their nutrients by eating other organisms or organic material

MOVEMENT Some algae drift with the water currents. Some

algae are actually actively mobile. Dinoflagellates, for instance, whip themselves through the water with a tail-like structures called flagella.

Plants are exclusively sessile. Plants have a limited range of movement, for example, they can lean towards a light source.

CONCLUSION Although both algae and plants are

photosynthetic in nature and are classified as eukaryotes (have highly differentiated cells that contain specialized structures like the nucleus), the two still differ in the following aspects:

Algae can either be unicellular and multi-cellular while plants are multi-cellular organisms.

Algae typically live underwater while plants thrive on land.

Algae are nonvascular. They don’t have structures such as connective tissues, leaves, stems and roots unlike plants.

REFRANCES Algae by J.S Gupta http://differenceBetween.net http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Algae http://www.ehow.com/info_8014990_diffe

rences-between-plants-green-algae.html http://www.differencebetween.net/

science/difference-between-algae-and-plants/