ABSTRACT
Attempts have been made to classify algae according to their nutritional modes, but much ambiguity remains. The complexity and confusion in the trophy-terminology of algae originates in the real overlapping and intergrading of the various modes, in the ability of many algae to change their nutritional modes in response to environmental circumstances, and to a great extent in the different purposes of the nutritional classification systems (e.g., biochemical, taxonomic, or ecological).
