Survey of Plant Kingdom: Conclusion

questions:
1. List three characteristics that land plants have in common.
 One of the features is that all plants have the alteration of generation characteristics
 The plants also have ability to make food through the process of photosynthesis
 Lastly, plants are multicellular and eukaryotes

2. Explain why ferns are evolutionarily more advanced than mosses.

The ferns do not have seeds and instead have a complicated plant life. For instance, ferns have
megapylls that have many veins running through. On the other hand, the mosses are less advanced
because they are bryophytes which grow mostly in moist places. In this case, the mosses cannot be
supported in water, nutrients or fluids because they do not have any vascular devices.

3. Which are two characteristics that seed plants possess that seedless plant don’t have?

The first difference is about the seeds characteristics. While seed plants have seeds for propagation,
seedless plants do not. Secondly, the seedless plants multiply through spores which may produce
asexually making them different from seed plants.
4. Bryophytes are short plants that grow close to the ground, and in many cases close to each
other for support. What factors in their anatomy are responsible for their limited size?
One of the characteristics is lack of developed vascular systems that can support them above
the ground. Besides, the bryophytes use the process of diffusion in transporting water and
nutrients to the rest of the plant. Lack of true roots, which helps in anchoring firmly to the soil
ad giving the plant support, results in the limited size and growing close to each other. Instead,
these plants have rhizoids as root structures.

5. In evolutionary terms, what group of vertebrates compares to the Bryophytes? Explain your
answer.
The group of vertebrates that can be compared to the bryophytes is amphibians. One reason is
that the amphibians have the ability to live both on land and in water. Compared to the
bryophyte, both have the same characteristics to the habitat they can live in. In this case, the
bryophytes live in soil. However, to have asexual reproduction, the bryophytes need water
where the sperms can swim through water to the egg through the assistance of flagella.

6. Why do you think the pollen cone of a pine has a shorter life than the seed cone?
Firstly, the structural features of the pollen cone make it have a shorter life. For instance, it is smaller in
size and wider than the seed cone. The pollen cones are also covered with fertile scales that have pollen

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BIOL 1409 Lab Manual

sacs. For this reason, they only take between two to three years to make a grown pollen cone tree.
Other functions that make the pollen grain have a shorter life include its role in giving the tree its shape
while the seed cones have the characteristic of reproductive structures including the ovules that are
fertilized by the pollen.
7. What do pollen grains transport?
Pollen grains transport many things including ornithophily, chiropterophily, hydrophily, malacophily,
anemophily, entomophily, and sometimes pollination by humans which is considered artificial.

8. What is the function of a seed in a seed plant?

The importance is based on the significance of the seeds in the plant life and reproduction. First, the
seeds are critical in the nourishment of the embryo. Secondly, they help in the dispersal of plants to new
locations where growth is supported. During times where the environments of conditions for growth are
unfavorable, the seeds help in maintaining the pant at a dormant state.

9. Which groups of land plants depend on water for the sperm to swim to the egg?
They are called bryophytes

10. What do Ginkgos, Cycads and Pines have in common?

The three have gymnosperm. Also they all have seeds which are naked because no fruit is present to
cover the seeds up.

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