Unit 4 – Notes #2 – Non-Vascular Terrestrial Plants

Kingdom: Plantae

Phyla: Bryophyta, Hepatophyta, and Anthocerotophyta

Members: Mosses, Liverworts and Hornworts

Typical Hornworts Liverworts

Moss (Hepatophyta) (Anthocerophyta)

(Bryophyta)

Characteristics of Bryophytes

Pigments:

1) Chlorophyll a 2) Chlorophyll b

-both are green pigments.

Habitat: 1) Can only thrive in wet areas (swamps, marshes, near streams)

2) Thrive in climates that receive year-round

precipitation; tropical and temperate rainforests.

A wet environment is crucial for bryophyte survival:

- As they lack a proper water transport system (non-vascular).

- No protective surface (waxy cuticle) to guard against water loss due to evaporation.

- Have flagellated sperm cells that must swim through water to fertilize eggs. Therefore; No water = No reproduction.

Morphology: (Form)

- Most look like miniature evergreen trees,

but only a few centimeters tall.

Moss Structure:

- Each moss plant has a thin upright

shoot that looks like a stem with tiny

leaves; these are not true leaves or

stems because they lack proper

transport tubules.

- From the base of the shoot grows a

number of thin branches called rhizoids

that penetrate into the ground and act

like roots to securely anchor the plant.

(they do not help in water transport)

- Water passes from cell to cell through

osmosis. This water transport system is fine if the organism is small. This is why bryophytes never grow tall.

Life Cycle:

- Life cycle involves the alternation between a haploid organism that gives rise to a diploid organism in the second generation, which gives rise to a third generation that is haploid and so on and so on….

- Have female and male gametophyte (1N) stage, this gametophyte stage produces haploid gametes (1N) from haploid plants. These gametes fuse to form a diploid (2N) zygote which gives rise to diploid sporophyte (2N) structures including a sporangium. Meiosis takes place in the sporangium to produce haploid (1N) spores to germinate into new gametophyte generation.

Moss Life Cycle: STUDY IT !