biology

Lemmermannia

Lemmermannia is a biology topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand Lemmermannia rather than just read about it. In short: Lemmermannia /ˌlɛməɹˈmæniə/ is a genus of fresh water trebouxiophyceans. as of March 2022, the genus contains five described species. They form coenobia of 4 to 16 cells.

Key takeaways

Lemmermannia belongs to biology; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect Lemmermannia to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of Lemmermannia from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

Lemmermannia /ˌlɛməɹˈmæniə/ is a genus of fresh water trebouxiophyceans. as of March 2022, the genus contains five described species. They form coenobia of 4 to 16 cells. Its type species is L. tetrapedia (Kirchner) Lemmermann, originally described in 1880 but put into the genus Lemmermannia in 1904.

Etymology The genus is named in honor of German botanist Ernst Johann Lemmermann.

History In 1880, Kirchner described Staurogenia tetrapedia. In 1897, Schröder described Tetrapedia emarginata In 1898, Kuntze moved Staurogenia tetrapedia to the genus Crucigenia, in the name Crucigenia tetrapedia. In 1900, Chodat described the genus Lemmermannia and used T. emarginata (now L. emarginata) as the type of the new genus. In 1904, Lemmermann moved Crucigenia tetrapedia into Lemmermannia as Lemmermannia tetrapedia, which was not widely recognized; the old name Crucigenia tetrapedia was kept in use. The genus Lemmermannia had been ignored for many years until 2013. In 2013, Bock et al. found a new clade of algae including Crucigenia tetrapedia and three others using molecular methods. Bock et al. (2013) decided that Crucigenia tetrapedia and Lemmermannia emarginata are the same organism. Since C. tetrapedia was described first (in 1880) and has priority, it is the species name that should be used. The type of Lemmermannia thus changed its name, from L. emarginata to L. tetrapedia (Kirchner) Lemmermann 1904. Three other species formerly in the genus Tetrastrum were added to Lemmermannia.

Morphology Lemmermannia includes triangular or oval green, planktonic algae that mostly form tightly joined square coenobia of 4 cells, with or without small rectangular opening in the centre. L. komarekii make coenobia of up to 16 cells in the form of near-square synceonobia, where 4 tetrads join together. The cells have a single plastid, with or without a small pyrenoid. All species lack spines, and mostly have smooth cell walls, with or without convexity. A minority of L. punctata individuals, as well as old empty cells of the species, have granules on the outer cell walls.

Metabolism Lemmermannia tetrapedia can use hypoxanthine and allantoin as the only nitrogen source for photosynthesis, which indicates that eukaryotic algae share similar purine degradation pathway to higher plants, animals, and fungi.

Reproduction Lemmermannia perform asexual reproduction (autosporation by sporangium); sexual reproduction has not been observed. Lemmermannia species perform two types of reproduction: L. tetrapedia exhibits Crucigenia-type of autosporation where the daughter coenobium rotates 45˚ relative to the cell wall of the mother coenobium; the other four species produce daughter coenobia in the same orientation as the mother coenobia. This demonstrates that in this taxon a Crucigenia-type of autosporation should not be used as a generic character.

Phylogeny Molecular phylogenies based on the SSU rDNA and ITS rRNA genes show Lemmermannia to be a sister clade to Botryococcus in Trebouxiophyceae.

Species As of March 2022, AlgaeBase accepted five species:

Lemmermannia emarginata (Schröder) Chodat Lemmermannia komarekii (Hindák) C.Bock & Krienitz Lemmermannia punctata (Schmidle) C.Bock & Krienitz Lemmermannia tetrapedia (Kirchner) Lemmermann Lemmermannia triangularis (Chodat) C.Bock & Krienitz

Habitat All species inhabit freshwater around the globe. L. tetrapedia has been reported highly susceptible to heavy metals in water.

References

Illustrations

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Lemmermannia

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Lemmermannia claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In biology, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to Lemmermannia before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about Lemmermannia ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of Lemmermannia

In research: Lemmermannia appears in biology research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses Lemmermannia in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: Lemmermannia is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics Enigmatic algae taxa, Trebouxiophyceae, Trebouxiophyceae genera, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Lemmermannia outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

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How to study Lemmermannia in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what Lemmermannia means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain Lemmermannia out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is Lemmermannia in simple terms?

Lemmermannia /ˌlɛməɹˈmæniə/ is a genus of fresh water trebouxiophyceans. as of March 2022, the genus contains five described species. They form coenobia of 4 to 16 cells.

Why does Lemmermannia matter?

Because it connects several biology ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study Lemmermannia?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on Lemmermannia.