Plant Diversity

Ch 29 & 30
 Alternation of generations

 All plants (and

some protists)
 Alternation =
alternating
between diploid
and haploid
generations
 Plants (and some protists)

Multicellular sporophyte
diploid organism
mitosis (2n) meiosis

Unicellular
diploid zygote Unicellular haploid
(2n) cells
fertilization (spores)
Unicellular (n)
haploid gametes
mitosis
(n) Multicellular
mitosis haploid organism gametophyte
(n)
 Plant groups
 Bryophytes (seedless, non-vascular)
 Liverworts
 Mosses
 Hornworts
 Seedless vascular plants
 Lycophytes( club mosses, spike mosses, quillworts)
 Pterophytes (Ferns, horsetails, whisk ferns)
 Gymnosperms
 Cone bearing plants (naked seeds)
 Angiosperms
 Flowering plants
 Transition to land
• Common ancestor = aquatic green algae

• Evidence  cellulose cell walls, same chloroplast

setup (chlorophyll a and b)

• Benefits to living on land: lots of CO2, few early

herbivores, easy access to light

• Challenges: drying out (losing water), gravity

 Early adaptation - cuticle
• Waxy covering on the
top, prevents water loss

• Also clear … why?

• Pores must interrupt

cuticle – often found on
underside of leaves
– Why?
 Bryophytes
 think moss
 29_08MossLifeCycle_A.swf
 Bryophytes
 Small
 Found only in damp,
moist areas on land
 1) Leaves must touch
water for photosynthesis
to occur
 2) Sperm swims through
water to reach egg in
gametophyte
Bryophytes sporophyte

gametophyte
 Vascular tissue

 Evolves to help plants grow taller

 Can push leaves up to compete for sunlight

 Water travels up through xylem

 Sugar travels throughout in phloem

 Seedless vascular plants
 Think ferns
 29_13FernLifeCycle_A.swf

 Forests of ferns in Paleozoic

become modern coal beds
(lots of carbon fixation)
 Further on land
 Still must be in moist
areas

 Sporophyte survives
fine with vascular
tissue

 But sperm must still

swim to egg in tiny
gametophyte
Fern gametophyte
 Seeds and pollen grains
• Gymnosperms and
angiosperms
• Seeds – protective
covering and food
source for diploid zygote
/ sporophyte embryo
• Seeds permit dormancy
period – waiting for
successful conditions to
grow
• 30_10SeedDevelopment_A.swf
 Seeds and pollen grains
• Pollen grains – hard
covering around male
gametophyte – light
enough to travel
through air to carry
sperm to egg
• Gametophytes now so
small that they stay
inside larger
sporophyte organism
 Gymnosperms
 Think conifers (pine, for example)

female ovary

male pollen cone

 Pollen strategy
 Release a lot, hope some pollinate
Sperm still swims
• When pollen grain lands
on another plant of same
species

• Reproductive isolation–
a) pollen must receive
correct signal to grow
pollen tube

b) must grow pollen tube

correctly
 Full colonization of land by plants
 Vascular tissue

AND

 Reproduction through air

 Angiosperms
 Think flowers (most diverse plant group)
 30_07FlowerTimeLapse_SV.mpg
 Directed reproduction
• Attracting pollinators with flowers

• Colorful attractors, scent attractors, taste of

nectar to incent taking pollen

• Lower pollen production = less cost

 Advertising in UV color

 Often very specific signals to attract a

particular species
(= more likely pollination)
 Double fertilization
 Unique to angiosperms
 30_10PlantFertilization_A.swf
 Fruit vs. seed

 Sugar loaded INSIDE seed = endosperm to

feed growing embryo

 Sugar loaded OUTSIDE seed = fruit to attract

animals to distribute seeds
 30_08FruitDevelopment_A.swf

 Not all fruits are sugary (dandelions), but all

fruits promote seed dispersal