1. Review of Plant Diversity
Bryophytes non-vascular land plants
Pteridophytes seedless vascular plants
Gymnosperm pollen & “naked” seeds
Angiosperm flowers & fruit
flowering plants
conifers
flowers
mosses
ferns
pollen & seeds
vascular system = water conduction
colonization of land
Ancestral Protist

2. A Review of Alternation of Generations…
Plant
How is this different from animal life cycles?
diploid multicellular
sporophyte 2n
mitosis
zygote 2n
A Gametophyte is:
A Sporophyte is:
fertilization
meiosis
gametes 1n
spores 1n
mitosis
mitosis
haploid multicellular
gametophyte 1n
alternation of generations

3. First land plants Bryophytes: mosses & liverworts non-vascular cuticle
Where must mosses live?
Bryophytes: mosses & liverworts
non-vascular
no water transport system
no true roots
cuticle
prevents drying out
swimming sperm
flagellated sperm
lifecycle dominated by haploid gametophyte stage
fuzzy moss plant you are familiar with is haploid
spores for reproduction
haploid
diploid
Why can’t
mosses grow
large?

4. Bryophytes: mosses & liverworts

5. Liverwort

6. Moss

7. “Peat Moss”
Peat Bog

9. Bryophyte significance
Food for mammals and birds
Prevent soil erosion along streams
Commercially – peat moss (Sphagnum) is used as a fuel, a soil conditioner, and by florists

10. FERNS An important group of plants – 10,000 species exist! Selaginella
Psilotum
Horsetails
Ferns

11. First vascular plants Pteridophytes: ferns vascular swimming sperm
diploid
Pteridophytes: ferns
vascular
water transport system
xylem, phloem, roots, leaves
swimming sperm
flagellated sperm
life cycle dominated by sporophyte stage
leafy fern plant you are familiar with is diploid
fragile independent gametophyte (prothallus)
spores for reproduction
haploid cells which sprout to form gametophyte
Where must ferns live?
haploid

12. Alternation of generations
Fern gametophyte (1n)
small haploid plant which produces gametes
archegonia
antheridia

13. Alternation of generations
diploid
produces male & female gametes
archegonia
haploid
antheridia

15. Fern sporophyte body parts
Fern sporophyte has fronds (leaves)
Young fronds are called fiddleheads
They also have an underground horizontal stem called the rhizome
True roots come from the rhizome

16. Rhizome

17. Fronds
Under the fronds, spores are produced in sporangia in clusters called sori (sorus = singular)
Spores grow into the gametophyte
The gametophyte grows the sporophyte
The sporophyte makes more spores

18. Significance of ferns
Ecologically important: Hold and form soil to prevent erosion
As food – fern fiddleheads eaten in Hawaii, Japan, Philippines – very nutritious and delicious!
As ornamental plants
Coal formation from ancient ferns

19. Early Pteridophytes: Tree Ferns
Carboniferous forest – mya
Forests of seedless plants decayed into deposits of coal & oil

20. Pteridophytes: Tree ferns
fronds
fiddleheads

21. More seedless vascular plants… Club Moss

22. Horsetail

23. What next…? What major problems do bryophytes and pteridophytes face?
What features do more advanced plants have that deal with these problems?