The name of mosses and algae, the features of their structure and physiology have been known to scientists for a long time. In appearance, these plants are very similar. However, they are representatives of completely different systematic units. In our article, we will consider how moss differs from algae.
Plant classification
There are no plants in nature! The variety of plants is simply amazing: algae, mosses, fern-like, gymnosperms, flowering ... There is nothing to list. However, the taxonomists managed to combine them into various groups based on the totality of the main features of the structure.
Comparison of Mosses and Algae
Why are mosses, ferns, algae, lichens plants? All these organisms are capable of photosynthesis because they contain green chloroplast plastids in the cells. The most primitive of them live in water. These are algae, which are a group of lower plants. Mosses are typical inhabitants of sushi. However, their reproduction is possible only in the presence of water. Therefore, they prefer wet places.
Outwardly, algae and moss are very similar. Therefore, they are often confused. Not all algae grow exclusively in water. Some of them settle on tree trunks, rock surfaces, moist soil, on snow, in the hairline of animals. They form a continuous green cover, similar to bryophytes. Blue-green algae are able to enter into symbiosis with fungal hyphae, forming lichens.
Characterization of lower plants
Algae are called inferior, because their body is a collection of cells (there is no separation of the root of the stem and leaves). It is called slate, thallus or thallus. Algae cells are not specialized. They are connected anatomically, but each of them performs similar functions. Using rhizoids, algae are attached to the substrate. This structure also does not form tissues, therefore it is not able to perform a conductive function. And there is no need for it, since the lower ones grow exclusively in water.
Higher spore plants - natives of land
Due to climate change, plants had to adapt to the terrestrial environment. The first representatives of this environmental group arose in Devon. This is a group of extinct plants called rhinophytes. Their prints are well preserved in ancient fossils. These are the first plants in which elements of conductive tissues appeared. Therefore, they are also called vascular. Their ribbed stems forked forks, and instead of the roots, rhizoids were still preserved.
Rhinophytes replaced mosses. Currently, there are about 10 thousand species. The difference between mosses and algae is not only in the habitat. Their life in terrestrial conditions became possible due to a significant complication of the structure. Most mosses have a leaf-stem structure. At the same time, rhizoids remain with them throughout their lives.
The structure of mosses
How is moss different from algae? In spore plants, a generational change is observed in the life cycle. Let us examine this process by the example of their typical representative, moss cuckoo flax. His sexual generation looks like a green carpet. Visually, it resembles some types of algae.
If you look closely, the green cover consists of separate thin stems with sessile leaves. At the end of summer, a little box is formed on their top. This asexual generation is a sporophyte. The shape of the box looks like a cuckoo. From here comes the name of this species of plants.
In a box, asexual reproduction cells mature - spores. When ripe, they spill out into the soil and germinate. Green leafy shoots again sprout from the spores. On them are formed organs of sexual reproduction - gametangia. Sex cells mature in them - ovum and sperm. In the presence of water, they merge, resulting in a zygote. A sporophyte grows out of it. Thus, the sex generation predominates in the life cycle of bryophytes.
Types of plants: algae, mosses
Since algae appeared on the planet much earlier, their structure is much more primitive. This does not allow these plants to master new living conditions. To understand how moss differs from algae, it is necessary to consider the features of their organization and vital processes.
Let's start with the body structure. All mosses are exclusively multicellular organisms. Among the algae, various species are found. For example, chlamydomonas and chlorella are unicellular. Volvox is a colonial alga. It consists of a group of cells united by a single membrane. The thalli of chlorella, spirogyra, kelp, sargassum are more complex. They are all multicellular.
Many features of differences can be found in the features of the vital activity of these organisms. Both mosses and algae are capable of sexual reproduction. But in the latter, this process occurs under adverse conditions. This is a kind of protection of algae. For example, when the water temperature drops or the pond dries, the mother cell of the chlamydomonas forms gametes.
They go into the water and merge in pairs. As a result, a zygote is formed - a fertilized egg. It is covered with a thick shell, which allows it to endure both freezing and drying. Upon the occurrence of favorable conditions, the contents of the zygote are divided, as a result of which asexual reproductive cells, zoospores, enter the water. They increase in size and acquire the features of adults.
So, in our article we examined how moss differs from algae. The main features are as follows:
- Algae are more ancient plants that originated in water.
- Mosses - the first immigrants to land.
- Algae can be single and multicellular. Colonial forms are also found.
- All bryophytes are multicellular plants, the body of which has a leaf-stem structure.
- In algae, male and female individuals, sporophyte and gametophyte do not outwardly differ. And mosses may have differences in their structure.
- Algae can breed in parts of thallus. Mosses are not capable of vegetative propagation.