Mosses & Ferns

Question 1

What is the asexual stage of alternation of generations?

Answer 1

Sporophyte.

Question 2

What is the sexual stage of alternation of generations?

Answer 2

Gametophyte.

Question 3

What is the female part of a moss plant called?

Answer 3

Archegonia.

Question 4

What is the male part of a moss plant called?

Answer 4

Antheridium.

Question 5

What is the stalk that grows out of the moss gametophyte to form the sporophyte called?

Answer 5

The seta is the long stem that is attached to the gametophyte.

Question 6

What holds moss spores, and releases them after becoming haploid?

Answer 6

The capsule holds the spores at the top of the seta. The operculum opens like a trapdoor to release the spores.

Question 7

What process do moss spores undergo before being released from the capsule?

Answer 7

Moss sperm in the diploid stage undergoes meiosis and becomes haploid. (The spores split).

Question 8

What abiotic factor is essential to the gametophyte stage of moss reproduction?

Answer 8

Water for the sperm to swim through.

Question 9

What happens to moss spores after being released from the capsule?

Answer 9

They grow into female and male parts of moss plants (archegonia and antheridium).

Question 10

Is moss sporophyte or gametophyte dominant?

Answer 10

Moss is gametophyte dominant, meaning for the majority of moss’s life cycle, it is in the gametophyte stage.

Question 11

Are ferns sporophyte or gametophyte dominant?

Answer 11

Ferns are sporophyte dominant, meaning for the majority of their life cycle they are in the sporophyte stage.

Question 12

What is the most significant adaptation for a land plant’s survival?

Answer 12

The ability to retain water (via a waxy cuticle) and store it (storage cells).

Question 13

What does a vascular plant have that non-vascular plants do not?

Answer 13

Vascular plants have vascular tissues called xylem and phloem.

Question 14

What are the major physical differences between vascular and non-vascular plants?

Answer 14

Vascular plants have xylem and phloem, vascular tissues. These give them more structure, and the ability to grow taller than their non-vascular counterparts.

Question 15

What purpose do xylem and phloem serve?

Answer 15

These vascular tissues are responsible for cycling nutrients and water throughout a plant.

Question 16

Is phloem living or non-living?

Answer 16

Living.

Question 17

Is xylem living or non-living?

Answer 17

Non-living.

Question 18

What does xylem do?

Answer 18

Xylem transports water and nutrients from the roots of a plant to the rest of it.

Question 19

What does phloem do?

Answer 19

It transports sugars and other nutrients from the leaves to the rest of the plant.

Question 20

Moss lack these traits that ferns do have:

Answer 20

1. Waxy cuticle
2. Sporotphyte dominant
3. Vascular tissues

Question 21

Moss and ferns are both:

Answer 21

Non-seed bearing land plants.

Question 22

On a fern, sori are:

Answer 22

Clusters of sporangia containing spores.

Question 23

The roots of a fern grow horizontally. This is called a:

Answer 23

Rhizoid.

Question 24

True or false: the sporophyte of moss grows out of the gametophyte.

Answer 24

True.

Question 25

Ferns and mosses are both a part of the kingdom:

Answer 25

Plantae.

Question 26

Why is there a significant evolutionary advantage to land plants ability to hold structure?

Answer 26

They are able to better compete for sunlight.