REPRODUCTION & GROWTH

MALE REPRODUCTIVE SYSTEM

SPERMATOGENESIS
SPERMATOGENESIS
FEMALE REPRODUCTIVE SYSTEM
OOGENESIS
MENSTRUAL CYCLE
 UNDERSTANDING GROWTH IN
MULTICELLULAR ORGANISM
• Growth in multicellular organisms is
permanent and non-reversible.
• Involves an increase in size and mass of the
organism, differentiation and specialisation.
• Increase: due to cell division and elongation
which is continuously occurring in living
organism.
 Necessity of growth
• A fundamental characteristic in living organisms
• For development of body system and
perpetuation of the life cycle
• 3 phases: cell division, cell elongation and cell
differentation
• Cell division: takes place by mitosis, each cell
divides to become two cells with identical
characteristics
 Necessity of Growth
• Elongation: a result of the taking in of water
and nutrients into the cell by osmosis and
diffusion.
• Water accumulates in the vacuoles of plants
causing the primary wall to stretch. Nutrients
are used in the building up of the protoplasm
leading to an increase in cell size.
 Necessity of Growth
• Differentiation: takes place after elongation.
Cells begin to differ from each other to form
groups of specialised cells.
• Example: epidermis root cells develop into
hair-like outgrowths, certain epidermal cell
transforms into guard cell.
 Parameters in Measuring Growth
• Parameters selected must be appropriate to
the organisms
• Increase in size and volume: refers to length
or height of an organism measured over a
period of time.
• Advantage: easy and quick to carry out.
Organisms are not harm or killed.
• Disadvantage: only takes into account growth
in one dimension
 Parameters in measuring growth
• Dry mass: refers to the mass of an organism
after all the water has been removed from its
body.
• Advantage: An accurate measurement of the
amount of organic matter present
• Disadvantage: A large number of organisms
needed, organisms have to be killed
 Parameters in measuring growth
• Fresh mass: refers to the mass of living
organisms without removing water from the
body.
• Advantage: easy, convenient, no need to kill
the organism, growth can be measured
continuously
• Disadvantage: not very accurate,
measurement is affected by the amount of
water present in the body.
 Growth Curve
• Obtained by plotting the parameters of
measurement against time.
• The growth curve of a population of microbes,
individual organisms or plants and animals
have a common sigmoid shape (S-shape)
 Human Growth Curve
• Infant phase (K): Growth rate is very fast for both
boys and girls
• Childhood phase (L): Growth rate is slower. From
age 4, it is slightly higher for boys compared to girls.
• Adolescence phase (M): Growth rate is very fast. In
the earlier part of the phase, girls have a more rapid
growth rate which starts about two years earlier
than boys. At the later part, boys grow faster. Why
is it so?
 Human Growth Curve
• Adult phase (N): Growth rate is zero. Maturity
is reached. Boys at the age of around 18, girls
at 16.
• Ageing phase (O): Growth rate is negative,
meaning size will start to decrease due to
degeneration of muscle and cartilage.
 Insects growth curve
• Human growth curve: Sigmoid-curve is
smooth and uninterrupted
• Invertebrates with exoskeleton: the growth
curve is in the series of steps
• The vertical portion of the steps indicates the
time where ecdysis takes place. The horizontal
portion represents instar or the period
between ecdysis.
Ecdysis
 Primary and Secondary Growth in
Plants
• Types of growth: primary and secondary
• In annual plants: growth is limited, after a period
of maximum growth, the plant matures and
reproduces, bearing fruits and flowers. Most
monocots and herbaceous dicots are annuals.
• Perennials: unlimited growth. The growth curve
is a series of continuous sigmoid curves. Example
plants: woody plants, hardwoods
• The end of each individual sigmoid curve shows a
slight dip because of the shedding of leaves and
fruits.