Glister Diadem A.

Dollera- 2018-08525 March 29, 2019

BOT 111 Assignment #2

1. Name four ways that seeds are adaptive.

a. By the means of testa or seed coat, seeds provide protection from mechanical damage,
desiccation, and often predation.
b. Seeds function as the dispersal unit of sexual reproduction.
c. The seed coat may function in dormancy mechanisms that ensure germination of the
seed only under ideal conditions of temperature, sunlight, or moisture.
d. Upon germination, the nutritive tissue surrounding the embryo provides energy for the
young seedling, aiding in successful establishment.
2. Based on fossil evidence, what was the precursor of the integument and micropyle?
Based on fossil evidence, the integument likely evolved from separate lobes derived from
telomes (ancestral branches) that surrounded the megasporangium. These “preovules”, i.e.,
ovules prior to the evolution of integuments, possessed a rim or ring of tissue at the apex of the
megasporangium, the lagenostome, which functioned to funnel pollen grains to a pollination
chamber. Seed evolution occurred with the evolutionary “fusion” of the telomes to form
theintegument, a continuous sheath that completely surrounds the nucellus.
3. What is a pollen tube and how does it function?
Pollen Tube is a haustorial outgrowth of the male gametophyte, which functions to feed
off the tissues of the megasporangium or (in angiosperms) the stylar tissue and which may
function in the delivery of sperm cells to the archegonium or (in angiosperms) micropyle and
egg/polar nuclei of the female gametophyte.
4. Define and state the significance of the pollination droplet.
The pollination droplet is a droplet of liquid that is secreted by the young ovule through
the micropyle, formed by the breakdown of cells at the distal end of the megasporangium
(nucellus), known as the pollination chamber. The pollination droplet functions in transporting
pollen grains through the micropyle by resorption of the droplet, which “pulls” pollen grains that
have contacted the droplet into the pollination chamber.
 5. Review the stages of ovule and seed development, and explain the lag period
between pollination and fertilization.
1) A single megasporocyte of the megasporangium undergoes meiosis to produce 4 haploid
megaspores.
2) All but one of the 4 megaspores aborts.
3) The nucleus of the active megaspore increases in size via numerous mitotic divisions,
producing the tissue of the female gametophyte.
4) The cells of the female gametophyte become differentiated into storage tissue and one or more
distal archegonia, each with a single egg cell.
5) A collar develops around the megasporangium containing the female gametophyte,
differentiating into an integument with a micropyle, through which the pollen grain enters.