Name _________________________________________________

AP Bio Review for Sexual Life Cycle for Plants and

Animals
This worksheet is designed to familiarize you with the fundamental differences
between the life cycles of a) vertebrates (you - as a reference), b) early land plants
(e.g. mosses as an example of a phylum with easily distinguishable alternating
generations), and c) seed plants). The main goal of this review is for you to learn
and understand what the term “alternation of generations” means, to be able to
identify haploid and diploid generations in seed plants, to be familiar with the
terms “ sporophyte” and “gametophyte” and to have an understanding of the
principle of “double fertilization” in angiosperms. Please use chapters 13, 31, 38 of
your Campbell Biology textbook for assistance and/or see me for help.

B
Answer the following questions: (see Figures A and B above and your textbook
for help)

1. What does the term “ploidy” refer to?

2. What is the ploidy of the gametes of a normally diploid organism?

3. Which biological process is required for a cell to go from diploid to haploid state?
A
4. What is the function of haploid cells in humans?

5. What other functions can haploid cells have in fungi, algae, and plants?

Over evolutionary time, different phyla have developed different strategies of

reproduction, each changing the way the two alternating generations contribute to
development. Figure C shows these differences for bryophytes (mosses),
pteridophtes (ferns) and angiosperms (seed plants).

1
 with the two nuclei in the central cell to form the “endosperm”, which becomes a
nutritive tissue used to nurture the embryo in the seed.

Answer the following questions:

1. Label the parts of the complete flower below

C
2. What does the sporophyte of an angiosperm plant consist of? (Use general
terms for plant parts/organs).

3. Which part of the plant is the male gametophyte? _______ Female? _______

4. Define “microsporogenesis” and “megasporogenesis”. In what portion(s) of the

flower does each of these processes occur? What is the end product of each
process?

D
Figures from ch 30 of: Campbell and Reece (2002): Biology, 6th edition, Benjamin Cummings, San Francisco

Figure D reviews the life cycle of angiosperms and shows where “double 5. What is the ploidy of the male and female gametophyte?
fertilization”, which is unique to angiosperms, occurs. (In simplified terms,
angiosperms are all “flowers” and trees that you see around you, except for needle
trees (conifers), ginkgos, and cycads, which collectively are called gymnosperms.) 6. By which process (meiosis or mitosis) are the sperm cells in the male
gametophyte of an angiosperm formed?
Double fertilization refers to the fact that each pollen contains 2 sperm. Both
sperm fertilize nuclei in the female gametophyte. During fertilization, sperm #1 fuses
with the egg (one of the seven cells) to form the zygote/embryo, sperm #2 fuses
2
7. What is pollination? How does it differ from fertilization?

8. What is the ploidy of the embryo?

9. What is the ploidy of the endosperm? Why?

10. Why don’t humans undergo alteration of generations? Is one generation more
prevalent than the other? Which one? Explain.