Essay On Diatom

Diatom is part of the stramenopiles clade, which is considered to be plant-like autotrophs that are often called algae. These autotrophs are mainly photosynthetic using chlorophylls a, chlorophylls c and xanthophyll to undergo photosynthesis to convert energy from the sun. Some species of Diatom are colorless, but those that do have color get it from various pigments. Diatom have two halves of their cell wall making up what’s called a silica cell wall. The soft part of the cell wall decomposes, but the silica cell wall still remains after they die. After decomposing it builds up to make diatomaceous earth, which has many uses. It can be used for filters, insulation, abrasives, glazes and insecticides.
Spirogyra is apart of the phylum Charophyta and is a plant-like autotroph because it is part of green algae. Spirogyra participates in sexual reproduction through a process called isogamy. Isogamy is the sexual reproduction of similar gametes. These gametes can be male or female, but because of similar morphology they
Volvox are colonial, which means that their cells are attached but they are metabolically independent. The cells have special functions that can be used for sexual and asexual reproduction making Volvox almost a multicellular organism. Each cell contains two flagella on the outside of their cell and each flagella beat in a coordinated pattern so Volvox spins in the water. Volvox uses oogamous sexual reproduction. Oogamous sexual reproduction is when the small, motile male gamete swims to the large, non-motile female gamete and fertilize. Volvox can also reproduce asexually by having specialized cells in the parent colony go through multiple rounds of mitosis. They produce many new cells, which form smaller daughter colonies. The daughter colony resides in the parent colony until they are mature and then they are released into the