When Cladophora becomes detached from the rocky substrate that it grows upon, it can then build up on shorelines, making their reticular formations, (dense mats) visible to onlookers.

[citation needed] Thick walls called akinetes are made out of vegetative cells in times of short photoperiods, low temperatures or nutrient unavailability.

Cladophora exist in multiple ecosystems which include both tropical and moderate climates, freshwater, wastewater, and marine water ecosystems, and in multiple biomes which include lakes, ponds, dam reservoirs, large rivers and the coastal littoral zones as well as in areas of oceanic depth (which determines temperatures and light availability as well as oxygen availability, which can become a limiting factor).

This taxon needs nitrates, and orthophosphates, as well as hard water conditions with pH levels between 7–10, high light intensity and nutrient densities that are rich in nature.

Cladophora may attach to submerged surfaces like rocks or other aquatic substrates, enabling it to grow more rapidly through optimization of space availability, (another limiting factors and source of infraspecific, intraspecies and interspecies competition).

[citation needed] Cladophora species can be an environmental nuisance, however, causing major alterations to benthic conditions linked particularly with increased phosphorus loading.

[3] Where Cladophora becomes a pest is generally where special circumstances cause such drastic overgrowth that algal blooms develop and form floating mats.

Extensive floating mats prevent circulation that is necessary for the aeration of deeper water and, by blocking the light, they kill photosynthesising organisms growing beneath.

Where they wash ashore the masses of rotting material reduce shoreline property values along water bodies such as the Great Lakes in the United States.

Cladophora possesses unprecedented capacities to filter toxins from water such as heavy metals and pollutants and efficiently absorb nutrients, including nitrogen and phosphorus.

[3] Cladophora is known for its blooming activities which are seasonal, (early spring to summer) and indicate their eutrophic abilities as well as that pollution may be present in the environment that they are growing within.

[3] Cladophora can be eaten as a food item either dried or fresh, however it loses some of its nutritional value with increased processing and with genetic modification.

Luang Prabang kháy sheets kaipen are the most readily available form of Mekong weed and are famous throughout the country and in the neighbouring Isaan, though difficult to find beyond Vientiane.

Cladophora is purported to have antimicrobial, antihistamine, antiviral, antioxidant, anti-sclerosis, anti-inflammatory and weight loss properties as well as secondary metabolites and bioactive components that have uses in diabetes, hypertension, cancer, and serves as a protection from parasites.

Cladophora has over 183 species within its genus that are very hard to tell apart and classify, mainly because of the great variation in their appearances, which is affected by habitat, age and environmental conditions.