Our planet gave us a very diverse animal and plant world: from algae and ferns to shrubs and trees. Any representative of the flora of the planet is characterized by special, specific features, and this primarily applies to structure and physiology. But sometimes you can find very similar species that are difficult to distinguish from each other at first glance: so, mosses and algae are very similar to each other. But despite the similar external signs and conditions of existence, these species cannot be called identical.
General characteristics of algae and mosses
Algae is considered to be lower organisms, and in their cells you can find chloroplasts that provide these organisms with the ability to photosynthesis, forming a continuous green canopy and multiplying vegetatively. Interestingly, under adverse conditions, some of the algae are quite capable of propagation of sexual. The overwhelming amount of algae exists exclusively in the aquatic environment, but there are those that exist without problems on moist soil, trees cortex, snow cover and even animals. Moreover, such organisms are both unicellular and multicellular.
To date, in science, more than ten thousand species of moss are known, the formation of which was the process of evolution of another species (algae), due to a change in the surrounding space. Moss needs moisture for its development, but it is not capable of existing in the aquatic environment. Mosses are multicellular organisms and have a more complex structure than algae. This species allows sexual reproduction, and even the differences between the structure of female and male individuals are possible.
Differences and similarities of mosses and algae
It is customary to attribute to the differences between mosses and algae:
Both mosses and algae are characterized by common features of similarities:
