PRACTICE 1: ALGAE

Division CYANOPHYTA

Nostoc commune: Non-branched filaments with heterocysts. The majority inhabit soil. In a humid state,
they form pillow-like, very swollen and gelatinous masses. In a dry state, they form like a thin and very fragile
film.

Heterocyst

1. Practice: Observe the sample both macroscopic and microscopic, describe and draw.

Division CRYSOPHYTA
Sample of diatoms: These are unicellular or colonial algae lacking flagella. They primarily live in
aquatic environments, in addition to humid soils and tree trunks. They are divided into Centrales and
Pennales in function of their symmetry
2. Practice: Observe the microscopic ample, describe and draw. Recognize Centrales and Pennales forms, and
the frustule, raphe, polar nodules, ornamentations, etc.

Division PHAEOPHYCEAE (Brown algae). These are generally marine.

3. Practice: Macroscopic observation of:
Padina pavonica: Marine algae (seaweed) that grows on rocks forming shallow lawns. Laminar thallus with
rigid consistency and whitish or yellowish brown fan-shaped fold formed by several superposed sheets. The
thallus is calcified and the surface is characterized by the presence of small dark hairs, forming horizontal and
concentric rows that stand out more by calcium deposition.

Cystoseira sp.: Seaweed grows in tufted form on rocks in the intertidal zone. The thallus is light brown,
complex with arborescent aspect, with more or less cylindrical branches and fixed to the substrate by a basal
disc.

Division CHLOROPHYTA (green algae)

4. Practice:
Conjugate. Microscopic observation of a sample that may contain:
Spirogyras p.: non-branching filamentous algae with spiral chloroplast.
Mougeotia sp.: non-branching filamentous algae with laminar chloroplast
Zygnema sp.: non-branching filamentous algae with star-like chloroplast.

5. Practice: Macro- and microscopic observations of:

Chara sp.: Fresh water algae with thallus with a principal axis of unlimited growth and branches with
limited growth (pleurids). Both are formed by nodes and internodes. Antheridia and oogonia are found in the
nodes of pleurids. The antheridia are orange-reddish in color when mature. The oogonia are ellipsoidal with a
large egg cell in its interior, surrounded by filaments arranged in a helicoidal manner and topped by a coronule
in the apex.

Cladophora sp. Marine and freshwater species. Branched filamentous thallus.

6. Practice: Macroscopic observation of:

Codium vermilara: Thallus more or less spherical or filamentous with dichotomous branching. In crosssection, they are siphonous with several siphons.

 Ulva sp. Edible marine algae. Lobed Green laminar thallus.

Caulerpa prolifera. Marine algae. Green laminar thallus like a real leaf, with rhizoids that
serve to attach to sea bed.

Division RHODOPHYTA (red algae)

7. Practice: Macroscopic observation of

Jania rubens: marine algae. Filamentous thallus, articulated, with dichotomous branching and frequently
calcified. It appears mixed with Coralina sp.; it is also a red algae with filamentous articulated thallus
completely calcified.