Algae Part 2

Chlorophyta
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Chlorophyta

"Siphoneae" from Ernst Haeckel's Kunstformen der Natur, 1904
Scientific classification
Domain:
Eukarya
Kingdom:
Plantae
Division:
ChlorophytaReichenbach, 1834; Pascher[1][2]
Chlorophyta, a division of green algae,[3] includes about 7000 species[4][1] of mostly aquatic photosynthetic eukaryotic organisms. Like the land plants (bryophytes and tracheophytes), green algae contain chlorophylls a and b, and store food as starch[4] in their plastids. They are related to the Charophyta and Embryophyta (land plants), together making up the Viridiplantae.
The division contains both unicellular and multicellular species. While most species live in freshwater habitats and a large number in marine habitats, other species are adapted to a wide range of environments. Watermelon snow, or Chlamydomonas nivalis, of the class Chlorophyceae, lives on summer alpine snowfields. Others live attached to rocks or woody parts of trees. Some lichens are symbiotic relationships between fungi and green algae. Members of the Chlorophyta also form symbiotic relationships with protozoa, sponges and cnidarians. All are flagellated[5] and these have an advantage of motility. Some conduct sexual reproduction which is oogamy or isogamy.