Week 2 Questions: Plant Life Cycles

  1. What are the approximate dates for the following events: (a) algae evolved in the oceans (b) some green algae moved into bogs of fresh water lakes (c) 1st land plants
  2. What are 4 problems plants faced when making the transition to land?
  3. Why were the 1st land plants small?
  4. What structures to land plants have to keep their gametes from drying out?
  5. Describe the gametophyte and sporophyte generations in bryophytes. Which one is dominant? Which is dependent on the other?
  6. Approximately when do we 1st see vascular plants in the fossil record?
  7. What 5 themes should you focus on when studying the evolution of vascular plants?
  8. For ferns, comment on the presence or absence of the following structures: (a) vascular tissue (b) a transport system (c) seeds (d) sporophylls
  9. Diagram the fern life cycle. What change do we see in sporophyte vs. gametophyte dominance as compared to the bryophytes?
  10. Approximately when do we 1st see seed plants in the fossil record?
  11. Why are gymnosperms said to bear naked seeds? What does this mean?
  12. Do gymnosperms only have one kind of sporangium? Explain. Why is this important to their life cycle?
  13. Why is it important for microsporangia to produce so much pollen?
  14. For gymnosperms, diagram a micro- & megasporangium and their involvement in the process of pollination and fertilization. Explain the role of the sporophyte and gametophyte in this process.
  15. Distinguish between an ovule and a seed.
  16. What are 2 characteristics of angiosperms?
  17. Define a flower.
  18. What are the 3 parts to the carpel (the female part of the flower)?
  19. Where is the female gametophyte in angiosperms? Diagram it and label the archegonia if present.
  20. In angiosperms, where does the male gametophyte generation come from?
  21. Describe the sequence of events leading up to and including double fertilization. Where does endosperm come from? Why is it important?
  22. Besides wind, what other pollination mechanisms do angiosperms employ? Give an example.
  23. What are the 2 types of embryos in angiosperms? How do they differ? How are they similar?
  24. How do different flowering plant seeds vary in the relative amounts of endosperm? How does this relate to cotyledon size in the embryo?
  25. Diagram the eudicot embryo at the time of germination. Label the axis, epicotyl, hypocotyl, and cotyledons.
  26. What is a meristem?
  27. When is a cell or tissue said to be primary?
  28. What is the function of endosperm and cotyledons?
  29. What is the liquid that comes out of a corn kernel?
  30. What is the liquid in a coconut? What about the white part – what is that?
  31. Distinguish between a fruit and a nut.
  32. For a peanut, list the plant parts that correspond to the following features: (a) shell (b) brown wrapper around the nut (c) each half of the nut (d) the hard ‘nipple’ at the base of the nut
  33. Where did the material stored in the cotyledons originate?
  34. Give examples of wind, insect, and water-based seed dispersal in angiosperms.
  35. How do bean seeds and peas germinate differently?
  36. Draw and define the following features of a plant: (a) stem/axis (b) shoot meristem (c) root meristem (d) node (e) petiole (f) axil (g) blade