Exam 1

Question1 Rhyniophyte were the first land plants that evolved during late Ordovician to early Silurian. It is also to be noted that though the fossils from that time period are sometimes found incomplete and difficult to interpret, scientists have been able to retrieve many details about the plants. Some times the term Rhyniophyte is used for the plants were found in the Rhynie chert Lagersttte-rich fossil beds in Scotland. These plants were very simple in anatomy. Because, the plants were buried in situ, the morphological and ecological details can be obtained. In these plants there were very subtle differences between the different parts of the plants. They usually had a simply shoot rise from an axis. The axis hardly had any difference from the upright shoots. The stems mostly branched in all similar fashion, dividing into two and then again dividing into two. The stems also would terminate into a spore that was called sporangia. They did not have any seed, leaves or flowers. They did not have any roots; instead they had horizontal stems that were connected with the soil itself by the rot hairs present. The total height of the plant was even less than 50 cm. There was one form that was thought to be aquatic. The name of the form was Taeniocrada but the transitional form is not yet clear. There was also an ancestral genus called Cooksonia in the rhyniophytes. By the early Devonian time tough, some of the advanced types of plants like Rhyniahad evolved. The Coal Age Flora is replaced by the Gymnosperms (the primitive seed producing plants) and the first true mosses in the mid-Permian. Flies and beetles evolved after that. However some geologists argue that coal is formed by the decaying of vegetation over a period of years. All the plant and animal materials decay and finally convert into peat or coal. The Carboniferous age also called the Pennsylvanian period which lasted some 250,000,000 ago. The carboniferous period was prevalent at the end of Paleozoic era.

Exam 2

The Coal Age Flora was found in the swampy rain forest of the Northern Hemisphere. In parts of Europe and Northern America the forest plants have been decomposed and compressed for millions of years to convert them into coal. The land of these forests is rich in anthracite and bituminous deposits. In between Nova Scotia and northern Alabama was the Rhode Island which was near the Appalachian coal field. The forest stretched from Nova Scotia to Texas via the Nebraska lying along the Rocky Mountain. The most remarkable feature of the Coal Age Flora was the formation of coal or peat by the decomposition of plants and animal matters. Question 2: Gymnosperms are seed producing plants. The Gymnosperms are represented by the two groups namely Cycadofilicales and Cordaitales. These groups are not only the members of Paleozoic flora but they also represent the seed-plant vegetation. These are recorded to be found in the Middle Devonian era. A comparative study shows that Cycadofilicales are more primitive compared to Cordaitales. These ancient seed vegetation of the Paleozoic was first considered to be ferns. A large portion of the coal measures comprised of ferns which was observed to bear seeds for ten years. Cycadofilicales was considered to be the fern group of Gymnosperms. They possessed a remarkable property of seed-bearing. Cycadofilicales is considered to have been derived from fern group and so are the other members of Gymnosperms. Though the Gymnosperms had similar characteristics like that of ferns, however, the seed bearing process of Gymnosperms were different from that of ferns. In case of ordinary ferns, the sporangia are born in groups. Whereas in case of Cycadofilicales seeds had replaced few of the soris. These seeds led to the presence of stamens which produced pollen. Cycadofilicales did not have cones like other Gymnosperms. The other group of Gymnosperms contains sporophyll. This is the most important characteristics of

Exam 3

Gymnosperms. The Cycadofilicales had two branches-Cycadophytes (which includes cycads) and Coniferophytes (which includes Conifers). The second group of Gymnosperms is the Cordaitales. They are also derived from ferns. Thus the Paleozoic Gymnosperm comprised of two remarkable groups- Cycadofilicales and Cordaitales. In the Mesozoic flora Gymnosperm constituted of for groups which were derived from Paleozoic groups. Mesozoic is considered to be the age of Cycads. The Bennettitales is considered to be the fossil Cycads. The Bennettitales have cylindrical stems and a remarkable property of it is the presence of cone or strobilus. The second group of Mesozoic flora is the Cycads. They were less dominant compared to Bennettitales. The Cycadophte can retain the fern like trait of Cycadofilicales. Ginkgoales and Coniferales are the two other groups of Mesozoic flora. They were derived from Paleozoic Cordaitales. Ginkgoales has been extinct whereas Coniferales are the prominent vegetation of the temperate region. Ginkgoales were found in abundance in the Mesozoic. They resembled the features of Cordaitales in the branching habit, thicker vascular bundles and simple leaves. They were cultivated in China and Japan. The most remarkable feature was the swimming sperm of Cordaitales. The swimming sperm characteristic of ferns and Cycadofilicales was continued by the Cordaitales. The Cycadophte branch was found to have male fern cell. Cycads had primitive reproductive and vegetation structures compared to Ginkgos. The fourth and the most important group of Gymnosperms is the Coniferales. It had not only changes the vegetative structures but it also differed from the primitive forms of reproduction using swimming sperm. They had passive sperms which were conducted to egg by a pollen tube. The Coniferales has six families or tribes. Seventh group of Gymnosperms is the Gnetales. They constitute of three genera and are very different from other Gymnosperms.

Exam 4

Question 3 Angiosperms are also known as Magnoliophyta. Angiosperms are one of the most diverse groups of land planet available on the earth. Basically Angiosperms are the seed producing plants. Gymnospearms are also seed producing plants but Angiospearms can distinguished from them by a series of derived characteristics like flowers of the plants, endosperm within the seeds etc. The ancestors of these flowering plants are known as gymnosperms that came around 202-245 million years ago. The time of rise of angiosperms are said to be Cretaceous era according to many well kept geological records though there is a lack of fossil evidence. Much of the recent speculation also suggests that angiosperms even existed in the time of Paleozoic era. But some of the present writers do not agree to the fact that angiosperm originated as long ago as Paleozoic. There are multiple reasons behind the success of angiosperm. Angiosperms generally use two techniques for that are pollination and seed dispersal. In case of pollination, Angiosperms have male sex organs which are called stamens and the end of the stamen is known as anther. The pollen is made at anther. The pollen has to be taken to the female part of plant which is called pistil. The pollen is usually left on the stigma at the end of the female part. The stigma carries the pollen to the ovary. The seed in an angiosperm is contained in the fruit of the plant. Seed dispersal is very important. Seeds are dispersed when animals eat the fruit. For example, often mammals like squirrel bury the seed for later consumption but then can not retrieve all of them thus helping dispersal of seeds. Many birds and insects can work as pollinators. Whenever any insect or bird tries to get nectar out of flower, it always picks up some of the pollens and then it moves from flower to flower. Sometime they also leave some pollen behind when they go from one flower to

Exam 5

another flower. Not only animals but wind can also help in moving pollen from one flower to another flower. There are basically two types of plants dominant in angiosperms. Dicots have two seed leaves. The leaves have only one main vein that starts at the base of the leaf bade. There are more than three veins that spread out from the leaf-base. Most of the trees, shrubs, vines, fruit and vegetable plants fall under the dicot category. The other type of angiosperm is called monocots. These angiosperms grow with one seed-leaf. The main veins of their leaves remain generally without any branch. Lilies, irises, palms, grasses and some grains like wheat oats belong to monocot group. There are more than 30000 species that fall under monocot group. Question 4: Unlike seed plants ferns reproduction lacks flowers and seeds. Similarly to vascular plants, ferns have a life cycle that is referred to as alternation of generations. The life cycle of a fern is characterized by a diploid sporophytic and haploid gametophytic. The gametophyte of a fern is free-living organism. At first the sporophyte phase produces haploid spore by the help of meiosis technique. In gametophyte itself, a spore grows by mitosis. Generally, it consists of photosynthetic prothallus. Then the gametophyte produces gametes by mitosis. The eggs and the sperms are often on the prothallus. The egg attached to the prothallus is fertilized by the flagellate sperm. After the egg is fertilized, it becomes a diploid zygote and grows by mitosis into a typical fern plant. Conifers (naked seeds) include both the largest and the oldest living plants in the world. The oldest are more than 5000 years old and the tallest are the more than 100 meters in height. The life cycle of a conifer begins with an arbitrarily generation of haploid

Exam 6

gametophyte. The generation of gametophyte is vastly dependent on the diploid sporophyte generation. The gametophyte begins at meiosis. The meiosis generates tetrad of microspores that with the help of air-filled bladders develop into pollen grain. Three among the four megaspores resulted by meiosis dies and leaves only a single functional megaspore. The pollen grain contains two cells which are called generative cell and tube cell. The sperm cell reaches the egg and the fertilization creates diploid zygote. The subsequent embryo then develops within a naked seed of the plant. Once proper hormonal and environmental cues are achieved, the germination occurs and a tree develops. Upon the maturity of the sporophyte, diploid female and male cones start to emerge and the alteration of generation thus completes the life cycle. There are quite few similarities between the life cycles of the two plants. First of all, both of the plants have alternation of their generations with multicellular two stages- haploid and diploid stages. Again, both the plants reproduce with spores. Dominant stage in pinus is the stage called gametophyte (haploid stage) while in the case of the ferns the dominant stage is sporophyte (diploid stage). The disadvantage of not having a seed is that the sperm has to swim long distance and the advantage is that in this case there is less possibility of harm from pests and other insects. The advantage of life cycle with seed is that in this case the sperm do not have to swim long distances as they have to in case of the life cycle of seedless plants. The liability of life cycle with seed is that seeds are more prone to death caused by pollution, disease or attacks by insects and pests.

Exam 7

Literature Cited: Goh, M.W.K. and Tan, H.T.W. 2000. The Angiosperm Flora of Singapore. SUP Press. Coulter, John M. The History of Gymnosperms. Chicago: University Of Chicago. Raven, Peter H., Ray F. Evert, Susan E. Eichhorn. 2004. Biology of Plants, 7/e. New York: W.H. Freeman. Jaeger, E.C. 1950. Desert wildflowers. Stanford: Stanford University Press.