Biology 11 Unit 6: Plant Kingdom and Life Cycles

A comprehensive set of vocabulary flashcards covering plant biology fundamentals, classification, and reproductive cycles based on lecture notes.

Autotrophic

Organisms capable of creating their own food using water, carbon dioxide, and light through the process of photosynthesis.

Ozone

A layer in the upper atmosphere formed from converted oxygen that filters out harmful ultraviolet rays, allowing organisms to survive on land.

Respiration

An efficient pathway used by organisms to break down complex energy-containing molecules formed by photosynthesis, yielding more energy in an oxygenated atmosphere.

Cuticle

A waxy substance covering the leaves and plant surfaces that acts as protection against drying out by preventing water loss.

Stomata

Pores on the surface of leaves used for gas exchange (carbon dioxide intake and oxygen release) and regulated by guard cells.

Vascular tissues

Specialized tissues, including xylem and phloem, used to carry water, minerals, and food throughout the plant.

Alternation of generations

A life cycle where an organism switches between a diploid ($2n$) sporophyte stage and a haploid ($n$) gametophyte stage.

Sporophyte

The diploid ($2n$) stage of a plant's life cycle that undergoes meiosis to produce haploid spores ($n$).

Gametophyte

The haploid ($n$) stage of a plant's life cycle that produces gametes ($n$).

Non-vascular plants

Plants such as Bryophyta (mosses) that lack specialized transport tissues and do not have true roots, stems, or leaves.

Gymnosperms

Vascular plants that produce 'naked' seeds not enclosed in fruits, belonging to phyla such as Cycadophyta and Coniferophyta.

Angiosperms

Flowering plants belonging to the Phylum Anthophyta (or Magnoliophyta) that produce seeds enclosed within protective fruits.

Chloroplasts

Specialized cell organelles in plants where the process of photosynthesis occurs.

ATP (adenosine triphosphate)

The form of energy produced during cellular respiration in the mitochondria that cells use to do work.

Chlamydomonas

A unicellular green algae with two flagella that reproduces asexually by binary fission or sexually via isogametes in unfavorable conditions.

Rhizoids

Root-like structures in mosses that anchor the plant but lack vascular tissue and do not effectively absorb water.

Archegonia

Flask-shaped reproductive organs typically located on the female gametophyte that produce an egg cell.

Antheridia

Male reproductive organs that produce sperm cells which swim in water to fertilize the egg.

Rhizome

An underground horizontal stem from which growth like fern fronds and roots emerge.

Prothallus

The small, heart-shaped gametophyte of a fern, containing both antheridia and archegonia.

Fiddleheads

The curled-up immature stems and leaves of a fern.

Sori

Brown bumps found on the underside of fern fronds that hold the sporangia.

Sporangia

Structures known as 'spore cases' where the spores of plants like ferns are created.

Xylem

Vascular tissue that conducts water and dissolved nutrients upward from the roots to the rest of the plant.

Phloem

Vascular tissue that conducts sugars and metabolic products down from the leaves to other plant parts.

Apical Meristem

An area of closely arranged meristematic cells at the root tip that undergoes repeated division to produce new cells for growth.

Transpiration

The process by which water vapor is lost from the leaf through the stomata.

Palisade mesophyll

Leaf cells located under the upper epidermis where most photosynthesis occurs.

Cotyledon

The food-storing portion of a seed, also referred to as a seed leaf.

Double fertilization

A process in angiosperms where one sperm fertilizes the egg to form a zygote ($2n$) and the second sperm fertilizes two polar nuclei to form endosperm ($3n$).

Endosperm

A triploid ($3n$) tissue in angiosperms that provides nourishment for the developing embryo inside the seed.

Monocot

An angiosperm with one cotyledon, parallel leaf veins, and flower parts typically in multiples of three.

Dicot

An angiosperm with two cotyledons, net-like leaf veins, and flower parts in multiples of four or five.