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SYNOPTIC DESCRIPTION OF THE PHYLUM RHODOPHYTA

SYNOPTIC DESCRIPTION OF THE PHYLUM RHODOPHYTA

EUKARYA> ARCHAEPLASTIDA> RHODOPLANTAE> RHODOPHYTA
RHODOPHYTA LINKS

Introduction

Hierarchical Classification

The description of this phylum comes from Bold and Wynne (1985), Garbary and Gabrielson (1990), Gabrielson et al. (1990), Freshwater et al. (1994), Van den Hoek et al. (1995), Graham and Wilcox (2000), and Saunders and Hommersand (2004).

I. SYNONYMS: Red algae, rhodophyta.

II. NUMBER: >4,100 species (675 genera).

III. PHYLUM CHARACTERISTICS:

  • A. Structure and Physiology
    • Cell Form: Unicellular, pseudofilamentous, filamentous, pseudoparenchymatous (text with tooltip) Pseudoparenchymatous (adj) describes the structure of a multicellular organism that is formed of interwoven filaments rather than parenchyma. or parenchymatous (text with tooltip) Parenchymatous (adj.) refers to the formation of a multicellular organism or structure by cells that can divide in multiple planes and thus produce a mass of cells. .
    • Flagella: Absent.
    • Basal Bodies: Absent.
    • Cell Covering: Covered by a cell wall consisting of microfibrils (xylan, mannan) and much gelatinous material including agar; some are calcified.
    • Chloroplasts: Chloroplasts usually red with a distinctive ultrastructure in which the thyllakoids are separate, with chlorophyll a (sometimes d), B-carotene, xanthophylls, red and blue phycobilin pigments.
    • Food Reserves: Floridean starch (text with tooltip) Floridian starch is polysaccharide storage product characteristic of red algae and very similar to cyanophycean starch. which forms in the cytoplasm.
    • Mitochondria: Plate-like cristae.
    • Golgi (text with tooltip) Golgi apparatus (also called dictyosome) is an internal membrane system of stacked flattened sacs. They occur in nearly all eukaryotes and are involved in storing and secreting cellular products. : Present.
    • Nucleus: Usually uninucleate but nuclei can move from cell to cell in the filament or thallus.
    • Centrioles: Not present.
    • Inclusions and Ejectile Organelles:
    • Not present.
  • B. Mitosis, Meiosis and Life History
    • Mitosis: Nuclear membrane breaks down at the poles only.
    • Meiosis: Present.
    • Sexual Reproduction and Life History:
    • Haploid and diploid phases alternate in some species (biphasic life history), sometimes with 2 diploid phases (triphasic life history).
  • C. Ecology: Mainly found in sea water, usually attached.
LITERATURE CITED

Bold, H. C. and M. J. Wynne. 1978. Introduction to the Algae. 1st Edition. Prentice-Hall, Inc. Englewood Cliffs. NJ.

Bold, H. C. and M. J. Wynne. 1985. Introduction to the Algae. 2nd Edition. Prentice-Hall, Inc. Englewood Cliffs. NJ.

Dixon, P. S. 1973. Biology of the Rhodophyta. In: Heywood, V.H., ed. University Reviews in Botany. Volume 4. Oliver and Boyd. Edinburgh.

Doweld, A. 2001 Prosyllabus tracheophytorum. GEOS, Moscow, USSR.

Fredericq S. and M. H. Hommersand 1989 Proposal of the Gracilariales ord. nov. (Rhodophyta) based on an analysis of the reproductive development of Gracilaria verrucosa. Journal of Phycology. 25: 213-213.

Fredericq, S. and J. N. Norris. 1995. A new order (Rhodogorgonales) and family (Rhodogorgonaceae) of red algae, which includes two calciferous tropical genera, Renouxia gen nov. and Rhodogorgon. Cryptogamic Botany. 5: 316-331.

Freshwater D. W., S. Fredericq, B. S. Butler, M. H. Hommersand, and M. W. Chase. 1994. A gene phylogeny of the red algae (Rhodophyta) based on plastid rbcL. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, USA. 91: 7281-7281.

Gabrielson, P. W., D. J. Garbary, M. R. Sommerfeld, R. A. Townsend, and P. L. Tyler. 1990. Rhodophyta. In: Margulis, L., J. O. Corliss, M. Melkonian, and D. J. Chapman, eds. 1990. Handbook of the Protoctista; the structure, cultivation, habits and life histories of the eukaryotic microorganisms and their descendants exclusive of animals, plants and fungi. Jones and Bartlett Publishers. Boston. pp. 102-118.

Garbary D. J. and P. W. Gabrielson. 1990. Taxonomy and evolution. In: Cole, K.M. and R. G. Sheath, eds. Biology of the Red Algae. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, UK. pp. 477–498.

Graham, L. E., and L. W. Wilcox. 2000. Algae. Prentice Hall, Upper Saddle River, NJ.

Harper J. T. and G. W. Saunders. 2002. A re-classification of the Acrochaetiales based on molecular and morphological data, and establishment of the Colaconematales ord. nov. (Florideophyceae, Rhodophyta). European Journal of Phycology. 37: 463-463.

Huisman J. M., A. R. Sherwood, and I. A. Abbott. 2003. Morphology, reproduction, and the 18S rRNA gene sequence of Pihiella liagoraciphila gen. et sp. nov. (Rhodophyta), the so-called ‘monosporangial discs’ associated with members of the Liagoraceae (Rhodophyta) and proposal of the Pihiellales ord. nov. Journal of Phycology 39: 978-978.

Margulis, L. and K. Schwartz. 1988. Five kingdoms, an illustrated guide to the phyla of life on earth. 2nd Edition. W.H. Freeman and Co. New York.

Margulis, L. and K. Schwartz. 1998. Five kingdoms, an illustrated guide to the phyla of life on earth. 3rd Edition. W. H. Freeman and Company. New York.

Müller, K. M., K. M. Cole, and R. G. Sheath. 2003. Systematics of Bangia (Bangiales, Rhodophyta) in North America. II. Biogeographical trends in karyology: chromosome numbers and linkage with gene sequence phylogenetic trees. Phycologia. 42: 209-209.

Saunders G. W., A. Chiovitti, and G. T. Kraft. 2004. Small-subunit rRNA gene sequences from representatives of selected families of the Gigartinales and Rhodymeniales (Rhodophyta). 3. Recognizing the Gigartinales sensu stricto. Canadian Journal of Botany 82: 43-43.

Saunders, G. W. and M. H. Hommersand. 2004. Assessing red algal supraordinal diversity and taxonomy in the context of contemporary systematic data. American Journal of Botany. 91(10): 1494-1507.

Sleigh, M. A., J. D. Dodge and D. J. Patterson. 1984. Kingdom Protista. In: Barnes, R.K.S., ed. A Synoptic Classification of Living Organisms. Sinauer Associates, Inc. Sunderland, Mass.

Tappan H. 1976. Possible eucaryotic algae (Bangiophycidae) among early Proterozoic microfossils. Geological Society of America Bulletin. 87: 633-633.

Taylor, F. J. R. 1976. Flagellate Phylogeny: A Study in Conflicts. Journal of Protozoology. 23: 28-40.

Van Den Hoek, C., D. G. Mann, and H. M. Jahns. 1995. Algae, An Introduction to Phycology. Cambridge University Press. Cambridge.
By Jack R. Holt. Last revised: 03/17/2013
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