Plant Taxonomy and Reproduction

Textbook Chapter: 25

Plant Adaptations for Land

Plants evolved from aquatic photosynthetic

protists, particularly from green algae, phylum Chlorophyta The water provided as a means of nutrients and dispersal of sex cells On land, plants had to adapt to survive and reproduce:
Plants developed cuticles and stomata to maintain

moisture and water and keep from drying out Plants developed roots and stomata to obtain resources from the soil and the air Plants developed xylem and phloem for transport Plants developed dry-resistant spores and seeds for the dispersal of gametes without water

Plant Phyla
Plants are classified based on whether or not

they have:
Vascular system Seeds Flowers

Bryophytes lack vascular systems

Tracheophytes have vascular systems
Ferns: seedless

Gymnosperms: seed non-flowering

Angiosperms: seed flowering

Plants
Bryophyte s Tracheophy tes Seedless Seeded

Gymnosper ms

Angiosper ms

Bryophytes
Bryophytes are non-vascular plants

They do not contain seeds

Are the most primitive plants Only found in moist and shady environments
Due to lack of transport system, they are very small

material exchange must occur by diffusion in moist environments Needs water for reproduction
No true roots, stems, or leaves
Reproduces using water-proof spores

Tracheophytes
Tracheophytes are vascular plants and contain

two types of vascular tissue:

Xylem: transports water Phloem: transports food and nutrients

Grew tall due to presence of vascular system Have specialized organs: roots, stems, leaves Pteridophytes (ferns) are seedless vascular

plants
Grow in moist, shady environments
Have large leaves called fronds Reproduce using spores

Seed-bearing Tracheophytes
Developed reproductive methods that do not

require water, which is the seed A seed contains

Fully developed embryo Food supply for the embryo (cotyledon) Water-proof and dry-resistant seed coat

Seed bearing structures are either cones or

flowers

Gymnosperms and Angiosperms

Gymnosperms are naked seeds
Have leaves called needles or scales Leaves are designed to reduce water lost and

prevent freezing Male cones produce pollen and female cones produce eggs
Angiosperms are enclosed seeds
Have flowers that encourage pollen transfer The flowers contain the female and male

reproductive systems Eggs are ovules inside the ovary, sperm are pollens on the anthers

Angiosperms: Flowers
The identifying characteristic of angiosperms are flowers Flowers function to attract pollinators and contain the

reproductive structures A flower is a set of modified leaves The petals are usually colorful and attract pollinators The sepals are below the petals and encase the flower before it opened The stamens are the male reproductive organs:
The filament is the stalk and the anther is where the pollen is

produced and is found

The carpel is the female reproductive organ:
The stigma receives pollen The pollen tube leads the pollen down the style and into the

ovary The ovary contains the ovules, which are the egg cells

Angiosperms: Monocots and Dicots

Angiosperms can also be classified based on their

number of cotyledons, monocot (one) or dicot (two) Monocot characteristics:

Parallel veins Vascular bundles scattered Floral parts in multiples of three Fibrous root system Branched veins Vascular bundles ringed Floral parts in multiples of four or five Taproot system

Dicot characteristics:

Asexual Reproduction
Plants can sometimes go through asexual

reproduction Vegetative clones are genetically identical plants the parent that grow from a detached part of the parent plant Some plants can produce genetically identical diploid spores that grow into genetically identical plants Some plants grow runners they stem away from the parent and grow into a genetically identical plant

Sexual Reproduction of Plants

Most sexually-reproducing unicellular organisms

spend most of their life cycles as haploids Plants usually reproduce sexually, while fungi can reproduce both sexually and asexually Plants have alternation of generations, in which they spend parts of their life cycles as haploid gametophytes and part of the life cycles as diploid sporophytes The identification of the alternation of generations is more apparent in bryophytes and seed-less tracheophytes than in seeded tracheophytes

Sporophytes and Gametophytes

The sporophyte and gametophyte generations are

both usually multicellular in multicellular plants, although the gametophyte body is usually significantly smaller In bryophytes and seedless plants, the sporophytes and gametophytes are clearly distinguishable as two different plant bodies Bryophytes and seedless plants either spend most of their time in the gametophyte generation or equally between the two In seed plants, the sporophyte is the dominant generation, and is most of the plant we see The gametophytes in seed plants are the pollen and the ovules Sporophytes produce haploid spores through meiosis to form gametophytes Gametophytes produce haploid gametes that fuse to

Life Cycle of Non-Flowering Plants

Bryophytes, seedless tracheophytes, and non-

flowering plants spend about half of their life cycles as haploids and half as diploids 1. Multicellular diploid sporophyte undergoes meiotic cell division to produce haploid spores 2. The haploid cells disperse, undergo mitotic division, differentiation, and growth to form a haploid gametophyte 3. The haploid gametophyte undergoes the specialization of certain cells to produce sperm and egg gametes 4. Sperm and egg fertilize to form a diploid zygote

In seedless plants, gametes must travel through water in order to fuse, but in non-flowering seed plants, the seed offers protection

5.

The zygote goes through mitotic cell division, differentiation, and growth, to become a diploid adult

Life Cycle of Angiosperms

Angiosperms spend most of their life cycles in the

sporophyte generation 1. The multicellular diploid flower produces haploid spores in the anthers and the ovules, which develop into pollen and eggs, which are the male and female gametophytes, respectively 2. Pollination occurs: pollen lands on the stigma of a flower, either the same one, or different 3. A pollen tube forms which conducts the sperm in the pollen down into the ovary 4. Fertilization occurs, and diploid seeds with endosperms are formed 5. The ovary matures into fruits, which aid in seed dispersal 6. The seed germinates and grows into a diploid plant

Male Gametophyte Development in Angiosperms

Male gametophytes begin development in the diploid

sporangia of the anther The sporangia goes through meiosis to form four haploid microspores Each microspore divides once by mitosis to produce one generative cell and one tube cell A pair of generative cell and tube cell is encased in a thick, resistant wall, producing the pollen grain When the pollen grain lands on the stigma, the tube cell forms the pollen tube The generative cell divides by mitosis to form two sperm cells The sperm cells travel down the pollen tube into the ovary, where they will go through fertilization

Female Gametophyte Development in Angiosperms

One cell in the sporangium of each ovule goes

through meiosis to form four haploid megaspores Only one of the four megaspores survive This megaspore goes through mitosis three times, resulting in one cell with eight haploid nuclei Two nuclei partition and form the synergid cells, which guide the pollen tube into the ovule Three nuclei partition are called antipodal cells and have unknown function The other two nuclei for the polar nuclei, which share the same cytoplasm as the egg cell The last nuclei forms the egg cell

Angiosperm Double Fertilization

After the pollen grain lands on the stigma, the

pollen tube forms and the two sperm cells are directed down into the ovaries by Ca2+ In the ovaries, one sperm fuses with the egg to form the zygote, which will develop into a multicellular diploid plant The other sperm fuses with the two polar bodies, forming a triploid cell The triploid cell will eventually form the endosperm, which helps the seed store food for the plant embryo This process is called double fertilization

Embryo Growth and Seed Formation

After fertilization, the ovule develops into the seed,

and the ovary develops into the fruit, containing multiple seeds As the embryo develops, the seed starts obtaining large amounts of nutrients These nutrients are initially stored in the endosperm As the embryo continues to divide and grow, the cotyledons start to form As the cotyledons grow larger, they become the primary source of nutrients for the embryo, rather than the endosperm As the cotyledons appear, the embryo elongates The seed stops growing when the protective seed

Fruit
As the seeds are developing, the ovary of the

flower is developing into a fruit The fruits main function is to aid in seed dispersal and to protect the enclosed seeds Fruits are rich in sugars, which attract herbivores to eat them, who will then pass the seeds to a new are as undigested material Fruits respond to ethylene, which cause them to ripen and drop, which will also allow for seed dispersal by other methods

Seed Dormancy
After a seed matures, it is dormant A dormant seed has extremely low metabolic rates A seed breaks dormancy and germinates into a

seedling when certain conditions are met, which may or may not include:

Moist and warm environment always Plentiful rain After natural fires After prolonged cold After chemical attack through digestive system

Seed dormancy is important because it ensures that

the seed will germinate at a time and place most advantageous for the seedling, preferably away from the parent and away from competition

Germination
Germination is different in monocots and dicots

In monocots, the shoot tip breaks out of the seed

and pushes upwards, towards the surface

The coleoptile protects the shoot tip as it pushes

through the abrasive soil

In dicots, the epicotyl or the hypocotyl forms a

hook, which pushes out of the ground

The hook eventually straightens out on the surface