The Phaeophycophyta (Phaeophyta) or brown algae are a division (phylum) of lower plants whose more than 1500 species are almost exclusively marine in habitat. Their size ranges from microscopic and filamentous to the massive kelps, which may surpass 70 m in length. To most people seaweed is synonomous with only a few genera of kelps (order Laminariales).
Brown algae are distinguished from the other groups of algae by the nature of their pigments, stored food products, flagellation and motile cells, and cell wall. The typical color of brown algae is due primarily to the accessory pigment fucoxanthin (a xanthophyll) that masks the colors of chlorophyll a and c, β carotene, and other xanthophylls. The products of photosynthesis may be stored as mannitol (a sugar alcohol), the polysaccharide laminarin (composed of 1:3 and 1:6 linked β glucosides), or as fat droplets. Starch is not found in the Phaeophycophyta.
In contrast to the nonmotile adult brown algae, reproductive bodies (gametes and...
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Setzer, R.B. (1982). Phaeophycophyta . In: Beaches and Coastal Geology. Encyclopedia of Earth Sciences Series. Springer, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/0-387-30843-1_322
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