Lecture 3: Ferns and Gymnosperms

Question 1

What does homospory mean?

Answer 1

produces only one type of spore (eg. microspore or megaspore)

Question 2

What does heterospory mean?

Answer 2

produces both types of spores (male and female)

Question 3

Are ferns vascular?

Answer 3

yes

Question 4

Describe the characteristics of ferns

Answer 4

• typically shade loving
• grow in damp areas
• homosporous (like bryophytes)
• fern plant is a sporophyte unlike bryophytes

Question 5

How do bryophytes and fern differ?

Answer 5

both of their gametophyte and sprophytes are free living

Question 6

How do the bryophytes and fern similar?

Answer 6

• they have a free living gametophyte phase

- flagellate sperm

Question 7

true or false; ferns are often epiphytes growing on trunks and branches of trees

Answer 7

true

Question 8

true or false; ferns can also be tree like themselves?

Answer 8

true

Question 9

true or false; ferns have well- developed vascular tissues for nutrient and water transport within the plant?

Answer 9

true

Question 10

What is the fern stem like?

Answer 10

like a rhizome

Question 11

Where are the sporangia of fern produced from?

Answer 11

from clusters called sori

Question 12

Where are sori located

Answer 12

on the underside of the leaf or frond; may either be exposed or covered by a flap called indusium

Question 13

What is the shape of a typical sporangia

Answer 13

club shaped; the walls show different patterns of thickening

Question 14

What conditions are required for the germination of spores?

Answer 14

warm, moist conditions

• to give rise to gametophytes which develops into prothallus
• since there is only one type of spore; there are no separate male and female gametophyte

Question 15

What is the prothallus (n)

Answer 15

• typically heart shaped

- example of a free living gametophyte; the equivalent of a bryophyte plant

Question 16

What is produced by the prothallus

Answer 16

• male and female gametes

Question 17

Where is the antheridia located in the prothallus

Answer 17

by the rhizoids

- produced first

Question 18

Where is the archegonia located in the prothallus

Answer 18

by the notch

- produced later

Question 19

What kind of sperm do ferns have

Answer 19

mulitflagellate

- shed into water so that they can swim from the antheridium to archegonium ( a link back to aquatic plants)

Question 20

Which, bryophyte or fern has the less developed archegonia?

Answer 20

fern

Question 21

When does the gametophyte of a fern disintegrate?

Answer 21

when the sporophyte is rooted to the ground

Question 22

What does gymnosperm mean?

Answer 22

• first seed; naked seeds

Question 23

What are the typical gymnosperms?

Answer 23

forest trees

Question 24

What are gymnosperm leaves like?

Answer 24

needle like

Question 25

What are cones and what are they for?

Answer 25

modified shoots | - for spore production

Question 26

give examples of gymnosperms

Answer 26

yew, juniper, pine

Question 27

How long does it take for pine to grow?

Answer 27

2 years

Question 28

What are the 5 key points of the life cycle of a gymnosperm

Answer 28

1.) long duration 2.) heterosporous = 2 sizes of spores (with male and female cones) 3.) cones are modified branches with leaves reduced to leathery scales 4.) gametophytes are greatly reduced but more highly developed than angiosperm ones 5.) seeds produced but not in enclosed structure ; gymnosperms are the first seed plants

Question 29

Where are the male cones of gymnosperms usually located

Answer 29

on lower branch

Question 30

What is the pollen equivalent to in bryophtyes and ferns

Answer 30

- bryophyte plant | - fern: prothallus

Question 31

What are cone scales called?

Answer 31

sporophyll | - the microsporangia are located on the underside of the scale

Question 32

What do microsporangia produce?

Answer 32

micropores via meiosis

Question 33

Which gender of cones is larger? male or female?

Answer 33

female

Question 34

Where are female cones of a gymnosperm usually located

Answer 34

higher branch

Question 35

What to female cones have?

Answer 35

megasporangium

Question 36

true or false; the megasporangium are born in pairs on the upper surface of a female cone?

Answer 36

true

Question 37

What is the megasporangium surrounded by?

Answer 37

integument

Question 38

What does the megasporocyte undergo; and how many megaspores does it produce?

Answer 38

- 4 megaspores | - undergoes meiosis

Question 39

What do the megaspores develop into?

Answer 39

a female gametophyte ( two months later 2 or 3 archegonia develop at the micropylar end)

Question 40

What catches the pollen grain

Answer 40

pollination droplet; which is produced by the female megagametophyte; floats in this; as it dries it is drawn to the nucellus by the pollen tube; where it germinates

Question 41

how many cells does pollen have?

Answer 41

4

Question 42

what is another major group of gymnosperms?

Answer 42

cyads - typically have solid, well developed trunks and palm like leaves - have cones and massive seeds - flagellate sperm Gingko - only one living species, often called living fossil as it is more or less identical to fossilized remains that are 150 million years old

Question 43

When does the pollen tube grow, and where from?

Answer 43

- grows from the endosoric microgametophyte; when it has enough nutrients; when it has reached the megasporangia

Question 44

What does the megaspore give rise to?

Answer 44

megaspore is retained within the megasporangium; it gives rise to megagametophyte

Question 45

What does the ovule mature into

Answer 45

seed

Question 46

What is a seed

Answer 46

matured ovule; containing an embryo

Question 47

What does the integument become after fertilization

Answer 47

seed coat

Question 48

Define germination

Answer 48

resumption of growth; of seed, spore, bud or other structure