How does conjugation occur in Spirogyra?
Conjugation in Spirogyra. Two filaments of Spirogyra form conjugation tubes. The contents of one cell passes through the tube an fuses with a cell from the other filament. Fertilisation occurs and a zygotre is formed. This developds into a thick walled resistant zygospore. These zygospores can withstand harsh conditions.
What is the vegetative structure of Spirogyra?
The vegetative structure or plant body of Spirogyra is known as thallus. The thallus is un-branched and filamentous shaped, measuring approximately 10 to 100 μm in width and may grow up to several centimeters in length.
What is Spirogyra (water silk)?
Spirogyra are free-floating green algae present in freshwater habitats such as ponds, lakes, etc. Spirogyra are commonly known as “water silk or pond silk”. They have a filamentous and unbranched vegetative structure.
What causes Spirogyra filaments to fragment?
When a Spirogyra filament attains considerable length, it breaks into smaller pieces that can grow into a mature organism. Fragmentation is also found to occur due to a mechanical injury or a change in their aquatic medium’s salinity and temperature.
What is the meaning of spirogyr?
Spirogyra do not eat in a traditional sense. Instead, Spirogyra undergoes photosynthesis to harness energy from the sunlight and turn it into usable chemical energy. Photosynthesis can be separated into two categories: oxygenic and anoxygenic.
How do Spirogyra reproduce sexually?
Sexual reproduction in Spirogyra is isogamous, i.e. male and female gametes of similar size fuse together in the sexual reproduction. Sexual reproduction is by conjugation. Conjugation is of two types, Scalariform conjugation and lateral conjugation.
What is the scientific name of Spirogyra?
Spirogyra. Spirogyra, (genus Spirogyra ), any member of a genus of some 400 species of free-floating green algae (division Chlorophyta) found in freshwater environments around the world. Named for their beautiful spiral chloroplasts, spirogyras are filamentous algae that consist of thin unbranched chains of cylindrical cells.