Biology 101: Spring 2007
The Diversity of Plants (Kingdom Plantae)
Lecture outline
I. Kingdom Plantae overview
II. Alternation of generations (general)
III. Major groups of plants
1. Overview diagram
2. Bryophytes
§ Key features and examples
§ Reproduction/life cycle
3. Tracheophytes
§ Features of tracheophytes (general)
§ Seedless vascular plants
a. Examples
b. Reproduction/life cycle
§ Vascular plants with seeds
a. Main features (how are they different from seedless vascular plants?)
b. Gymnosperms: examples
c. Focus on conifers
· Adaptations to cold/dry conditions
· Reproduction/life cycle
d. Angiosperms
· Overview of key features
· Reproduction/life cycle (compare to others)
IV. Trends in plant evolution
Study questions
NOTE: Many of these questions integrate various parts of the lecture, so you can’t just find one slide or section of the text for the answers…
1. Are plants Prokaryotes or Eukaryotes? Multicellular? Autotrophs or heterotrophs (virtually all…)?
NOTE: The following question will help you with all of the other plant life cycles, so take some time to understand it.
2. For a generalized plant life cycle (i.e. true for all plants)
a. Put the parts of the life cycle listed below in order (i.e. recreate the cycle)
b. Indicate which of the parts/structures are haploid and which are diploid
spores
gametes (eggs and sperm)
sporophyte
embryo
gametophytes
zygote
NOTE: The following question contains many of the key points made in the plant lecture. Again, take your time and be sure you understand it! Once you answer parts a and b, it should be relatively easy to answer c-e.
3. For the list of plants below (listed in no particular order)
a. Indicate which are bryophytes and which are tracheophytes
b. Place them “in order” based on presumed evolutionary trends (i.e. the order in which they appear in the fossil record.)
c. Indicate which have a dominant gametophyte generation vs. which have a dominant sporophyte generation.
d. Indicate which ones require water for reproduction (and why?)
e. Indicate which ones have vessels reinforced with lignin
Mosses
Angiosperms
Liverworts
Ferns
Gymnosperms
Review the life cycles of the moss, fern, conifer and angiosperm, and then see if you can answer the following questions…
4. What are the structures located beneath the leaves of a fern? What do they produce?
5. What happens to the spores of ferns once they are released from the sporangia? (In other words, what do they develop into?)
6. What is the heart-shaped structure shown in the fern life cycle? Is it haploid or diploid?
7. What is the function of the archegonium (discussed in life cycle of mosses and ferns?)
8. Immediately after fertilization occurs, what is the resulting organism called? What does this develop into (still early in life…?)
9. In which two life cycles (moss, fern, conifer or angiosperm) does the sporophyte emerge directly from the gametophyte (specifically out of the archegonium?)
10. In the conifer life cycle:
a. Where are the male gametophytes produced?
b. Where are the sperm produced?
c. How does the pollen grain travel to the female gametophyte (usually?)
d. Once the pollen grain reaches the female gametophyte, what must happen in order for the sperm to reach the egg? How long does this take?
e. Where is the female gametophyte located?
f. Where are the eggs produced?
g. What happens to the ovule after fertilization?
11. Name the three parts of a seed. Is the embryo within the seed diploid or haploid?
12. What is the function of a flower?
13. What do flowering plants gain from their mutualistic relationship with pollinators? What do the pollinators gain from their mutualistic relationship with flowering plants?
14. What is the function of a fruit? What is a fruit—explain how it is related to a particular flower part…
15. Which structure produces the pollen of a flower?
16. Where are the eggs of flowering plants produced?
17. What does the ovule of an angiosperm become after fertilization occurs? (HINT: Same as for a gymnosperm.) What does the ovary of an angiosperm become after fertilization occurs?
18. Describe one key difference between seedless tracheophytes and those with seeds, besides seeds. (HINT: Has something to do with life cycle… And allergies…)
Page 1 of 3