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Grasslands support a wide variety of plant life, including more than 10,000 species of grasses worldwide. Grassland plants include algae (AL-jee), fungi (FUHN-jee), lichens, and green plants.
Algae, Fungi, and Lichens
It is generally recognized that algae, fungi, and lichens do not fit neatly into the plant category. In this chapter, however, we will discuss these special organisms as if they, too, were plants.
Algae Most algae are one-celled organisms too small to be seen by the naked eye. They make their food through photosynthesis (foh-toh-SIHN-thuh-sihs; the process by which plants use the energy from sunlight to change water and the air's carbon dioxide into the sugars and starches they require.) Blue-green algae grow close to the ground in moist areas, often in mud after a rain. These algae help transform nitrogen in the soil so it can be absorbed by other plants.
Fungi Fungi are plantlike...
This section contains 1,326 words (approx. 5 pages at 300 words per page) |