Chapter 30

Key Terrestrial Adaptations Were Crucial to the Success of Seed Plants

1. Name five terrestrial adaptations that contributed to the success of seed plants.

The five terrestrial adaptations include the seed, reduction of the gametophyte generation, heterospory, ovules, and pollen.

2. Compare the size and independence of the gametophytes of bryophytes with those of seed plants.

Seedless vascular plants have tiny gametophytes that are visible to the naked eye. The gametophytes of seed plants are
microscopically small and develop from spores in the sporangia of the parental sporophyte.
The gametophytes of seed plants obtain nutrients from their parents, while the gametophytes of seedless vascular plants must
fend for themselves.

3. Describe the ovule of a seed plant.

An ovule of a seed plant consists of the megasporangium, megaspores, and integuments.

4. Contrast the male gametophytes of bryophytes with those of seed plants.

Male gametophytes travel long distances as pollen grains. The sperm of seed plants, unlike bryophytes, lack flagella and
do not require a film of water, as they rely on the pollen tube to reach the egg cell within the ovule.

5. Explain why pollen grains were an important adaptation for successful reproduction on land.

Pollen grains were an important adaptation because the evolution of pollen allowed for pollination and contributed to the
diversity of seed plants

6. Explain how a seed can be said to include contributions from three distinct generations.

Seeds can survive harsh conditions through dormancy, are distributed far from their parent sporophyte, and are
multicellular.

7. Compare spores with seeds as dispersal stages in plant life cycles.

Moss spores can survive even if the local environment is too cold, too hot, or too dry for the moss plants themselves to
survive. Because of their tiny size, the spores themselves can be dispersed in a dormant state to a new area.
The seed represents a different solution to resisting harsh environments and dispersing offspring. A multicellular seed is
more complex and resistant. After being released, a seed may remain dormant for days or years. Under favorable
conditions, it germinates and the sporophyte embryo emerges as a seedling.

Gymnosperms

8. Explain how climatic changes with the formation of the supercontinent Pangaea favored the spread of
gymnosperms.

Climatic conditions became warmer and drier, favoring the spread of gymnosperms

9. List and distinguish among the four phyla of gymnosperms.

Phylum Ginkgophyta consists of only a single extant species, Ginkgo biloba. This popular ornamental species has fanlike
leaves that turn gold before they fall off in the autumn.

Cycads (phylum Cycadophyta) have large cones and palmlike leaves. Cycads flourished in the Mesozoic era.

Phylum Gnetophyta consists of three very different genera. Weltwitschia plants have straplike leaves that are among the
largest known leaves. Gentum species are tropical trees or vines. Ephedra is a shrub of the American deserts.

The conifers belong to the largest gymnosperm phylum, the phylum Coniferophyta. The term conifer comes from the
reproductive structure, the cone, which is a cluster of scalelike sporophylls.
10. Describe the life history of a pine. Indicate which structures are part of the gametophyte generation and which are
part of the sporophyte generation.

In most conifer species, each tree has both ovulate and pollen cones. The pine tree is the sporophyte. Each ovulate cone
contains megasporangium. Microsporangium undergoes meiosis, producing haploid micropsores that develop into
pollen grains. A pollen grain enters through the micropyle and germinates, forming a pollen tube that digests through
the megasporangium. By meiosis, four haploid cells are produced. One survives as a megaspore. Female egg
develops. Fertilization occurs as sperm and egg nuclei unite. The ovule becomes a seed.

Angiosperms (Flowering Plants)

11. Identify the following floral structures and describe a function for each:

a. sepal: modified leaf in angiosperms that helps enclose and protect a flower bud before it opens
b. petal: modified leaf of a flowering plant that advertise insects and other pollinators
c. stamen: pollen-producing reproductive organ of a flower
d. carpel: ovule-producing reproductive organ of flower
e. filament: stalk of a stamen
f. anther: in an angiosperm, the terminal pollen sac of a stamen, where pollen grains with male gametes form
g. stigma: sticky part of a flower’s carpel, which traps pollen grains
h. style: the stalk of a flower’s carpel, with the ovary at the base and the stigma at top
i. ovary: in flowers, the portion of a carpel in which the egg-containing ovules develop
j. ovule: a structure that develops within the ovary of a seed plant and contains the females gametophyte

12. Define fruit. Explain how fruits may be adapted to disperse seeds.

A fruit is a mature ovary of a flower that protects dormant seeds and aids in their dispersal.
Some fruits are dispersed by wind, others, such as coconuts, by water. Many rely on animals to carry the seeds by clinging to
fur or producing edible fruits so that by the time the seed is deposited from the animal tract, the seed is far from the parental
sporophyte.

13. Explain why a cereal grain is a fruit rather than a seed.

Grains are dry fruit with the mature ovary inside it.

14. Diagram the generalized life cycle of an angiosperm. Indicate which structures are part of the gametophyte
generation and which are part of the sporophyte generation.
15. Describe the role of the generative cell and the tube cell within the angiosperm pollen grain.

A generative cell divides to form two sperm and a tube cell produces a pollen tube

16. Explain the process and function of double fertilization.

Double fertilization is a mechanism of fertilization in angiosperm in which two sperm cells unite with two cells in
embryo sac to form the zygote and endosperm. One hypothesis for the function of double fertilization is that it
synchronizes the development of food storage in the seed with development of the embryo.

17. Explain the significance of Archaefructus.

In the late 1990s, scientists in China discovered fossils of 125-million-year-old angiosperms named Archaefructus
liaoningensis and Archaefructus sinensis. This species may be a “proto-angiosperm,” suggesting that the ancestors of
flowering plants were herbaceous rather than woody

18. Explain the significance of Amborella.

Surviving basal angiosperm consist of three lineages, the oldest being Amborella. Amborella is a basal angiosperm that
lacks vessels that are found in more derived angiosperms.

19. Distinguish between monocots and eudicots.

Monocots is a clade consisting of flowering plants that have one cotyledon while eudicots is a clade consisting of a vast
majority of flowering plants that have two cotyledons.

20. Explain how animals may have influenced the evolution of terrestrial plants and vice versa.

Animals crawling on floor created selective pressure favoring plants that kept their spores and gametophytes off the ground
and out of easy reach. Plant-pollinator relationship increased angiosperm diversity as well as petals to attract the pollinators.

Plants and Human Welfare

21. Name the six angiosperms that are most important in the diet of the human species.

The six angiosperms most important in the human diet are wheat, rice, maize, potatoes, cassava, and sweet .

22. Describe the current threat to plant diversity caused by human population growth.

The demand for space and natural resources resulting from the exploding human population is extinguishing plant species at
an unprecedented rate. Due primarily to the slash-and-burn clearing of forests for agriculture, tropical forests may be
completely eliminated within 25 years.