Plant Diversity I Flashcards
What was the process that lead up to the greening of the earth?
- For the first 3 billion years, land surface was largely lifeless
- Cyanobacteria existed on land ≈1.2 billion years ago
- Only ≈500 million years ago (mya), small plants, fungi, and animals emerged on land
- Now ≈290,000 living species plants
What are the advantages of living on land rather than in the water?
- In a world of water, moving onto land had distinct advantages … » Bright sunlight, unfiltered by water » More CO2 in air than in water » Soil rich in mineral nutrients » Less competition, no “predators”
What were some challenges for animals adapting to living on land? What was the result of these challenges?
» Scarcity of water
» Lack of structural support against gravity
- Plants diversity is a reflection of different adaptations to these challenges
are all plants related to algea?
Land plants are related to green algea
What is the “alternation of generations?
- an adaption in plants
- Plants alternate between two multicellular stages (“alternation of generations”)
» Includes both multicellular haploid and multicellular diploid organisms
How does the “alternation of Generations” work?
- Plants, likewise, have sperm and eggs in their life cycles, but these are produced by an intermediate stage between the adult and the offspring
- The adult generation produces spores (sporophyte), while the spore generation produces sex cells (Gametophyte)
- The spores then develop into the gametophyte generation.
How do plants protect gametes, zygotes and spores?
- Adaption of land plants
» Specialised organ for gamete production (gametangia)
• Archegonium in female plants
• Antheridium in male plants
» Multicellular, dependent embryos (“embryophytes”)
• Grow protected within the parent plant
» Tough and protected spores
• Walls more resistant to drying (thanks to sporopollenin)
• Produced protected within specialized organs (sporangium)
What is apical meristems?
- Plants need to grow above ground (CO2, light) AND below ground (water, mineral nutrients) → apical meristems
» Specialised tissue at growing tips of plant where cells divide repeatedly
» Cells produced by the apical meristem then differentiate into outer epidermis or various types of internal tissues
Give a brief summary of a plant
» Photosynthetic organisms that have adapted to life on the land
• Most live in terrestrial habitats, but a few have returned to aquatic habitats (eg, seagrass)
» Eukaryotes
» Cell walls
» Photosynthetic autotrophs
• Sunlight as source of energy for metabolism (chloroplast)
• Fix carbon from CO2 to create organic compounds
- Life on land owes its existence to plants
- Live in all but the harshest terrestrial habitats
How many forms of plants are there?
Two distinct forms:
» Vascular plants
» Non-vascular plants
How many phyla of plants are there?
10
What are the 3 phyla of Nonvascular plants (Bryophytes)?
- Bryophytes represented today by three phyla of small herbaceous (nonwoody) plants:
- Mosses (phylum Bryophyta)
- Liverworts (phylum Hepatophyta)
- Hornworts (phylum Anthocerophyta).
What are the two different types of Vascular plants?
Seedless and Seeded plants
What are the different phylums of Vascular seedless plants?
- Lycophytes (Phylum Lycophyta)
- Monilophytes (Phylum Monilophyta)
What are the different types of Vascular seeded plants?
Gymnosperms and Angiosperms
What are the different phylums of vascular seeded Gymnosperms?
- Ginkgo (phylum Ginkophyta)
- Cycads (phylum Cycadophyta)
- Gnetophytes (phylum Gnetophyta)
- Conifers (phylum Coniferophyta)
What are the different phylums of vascular seedless angiosperms?
- Flowering plants (phylum Anthophyta)
What is the predicted ancestor of all plants?
An ancestral green Alga
How long ago was the origin of land plants?
- about 470 mya
how long ago was the origin of vascular plants?
- about 425 mya
What type of plant originated 305 mya?
- extant seed plant
provide a summary of non-vascular plants
Primitive land plants
» Simple structure
» Need abundance of water
» Lack specialised conductive tissues