Question

The book ‘Structure and Reproduction of the Algae’ describing taxonomy of algae is written by
A. Whittaker
B. Fritsch
C. Trainer
D. Christensen

Answer 1

Hint: Algae are known as a large and diverse group of organisms that contain the photosynthetic and other pigments. They are also referred to as the photosynthetic eukaryotic organisms. This group is considered as a polyphyletic group that includes species from multiple clades.

Complete answer:
The algae are the organisms that range from the unicellular to the diatoms as well as the multicellular species. They are mostly autotrophic in their food habits and are aquatic. They are found both in freshwater as well as marine waters. The classification of algae has been proposed by several workers.
Felix Eugene Fritsch was a British biologist and wrote the book ‘Structure and Reproduction of the Algae’. The book contains important compilation of the taxonomy and morphological details of the algae based on his extensive research on algae. He also wrote another book named as A Treatise of the British Freshwater Algae which is considered as an important book on algae. His works include several reviews on the taxonomy, classification, morphology and evolutionary aspects of psychology. He classified algae into 11 classes namely Chlorophyceae, Xanthophyceae, Chrysophyceae, Bacillariophyceae, Cryptophyceae, Dinophyceae, Chloromonodineae, Euglinineae, Phaeophyceae, Rhodophyceae and Myxophyceae (Cyanophyceae).
Whittaker in the year 1969, proposed and described the five kingdom classification systems. It includes five distinct kingdoms which are plants, animals, fungi, protists and bacteria. The most important basis of the classification given by Whittaker was complexity of the cellular structure, mode of nutrition, organization of the body and evolutionary relationships. Algae were included in the group Protists.
T. Christensen wrote the book “The Gross Classification of Algae” in 1964.

Hence, the correct answer is option (B).

Additional information:
Several workers worked on the classification of algae such as Linnaeus(1754), Vaucher(1803), Link (1820), Engler and Prantl(!912) and many more. During the 20th century, the different classification of algae showed the groups are polyphyletic groups. With growing classification, the algae were included into the Protists.

Note: The algae are photosynthetic eukaryotic organisms that do not contain many distinct cell features such as stomata, xylem and phloem that are found in the land plants. These can be either unicellular or multicellular. Different workers have worked on the classification of Algae. The book ‘Structure and Reproduction of the Algae’ was written by Felix Eugene Fritsch and is an important book on algal taxonomy.