BIO 104 Lower Plants

Primitive

Organisms that closely resemble their ancestors, changed very little due to a stable environment

Advanced

Organisms that no longer closesly resemble their ancestors, changed a lot due to an unstable environment

Plantae (plant) Kingdom

Second largest kingdom, first terrestrial organisms

What is a Plant?

1. Photosynthetic

2. Starch production

3. Cellulose cell wall, very hard exterior like wood

4. Multicellular and Eukaryotic

5. Alternation of generations (taking turns between stages/steps)

Kingdom: Protista

Phylum: Chlorophyta (green plant)

What are Chlorophyta the ancestors of?

Ancestors of green algae

Are Chlorophyta single or multi-cellular?

Single

What is the Chlorophyta habitat?

Microscopic, lives in water

Vascular Tissue

System of hoses/pipes/tubes that interconnects the cells of plants, arteries and veins of plants

What problem must plants overcome to live on dry land?

Must be able to obtain water and be able to move water from cell to cell. Plants are multi-cellular, whereas algae is just one cell

What are the two types of Vascular Tissue?

1. Xylem

2. Phloem

ex. celery

Xylem

Transports water throughout the plant. Starts underground in the roots, into stem, and through the top of the plant through suction/evaporation

Phloem

Transports carbs/sugars. Starts in the leaves, through branches, stems, and into the roots

Where is the greatest source of moisture?

Underground

How much Vascular Tissue determines…

1. The size - the more vascular tissue, the larger the plant

2. How close to water plants have to live - plants that DON’T have a lot of Vascular Tissue live in water, whereas plants that are not close to water are not restricted to their environment and have MORE Vascular Tissue

Two Basic Plant Reproduction methods:

1. Swimming sperm cells: Live in a wet environment, don’t have a lot of vascular tissue

2. Flying sperm cells: Pollen, not limited to where it can live

What are the Modern Plant Classifications? (3)

I. Nonvascular Plants

II. Seedless Vascular Plants

III. Seed Plants/True Vascular Plants

Nonvascular Plants

Little to no vascular tissue

Spore reproduction

Swimming sperm cells

Considered “Lower Plants”

What are spores?

Primitive version of a seed, asexual

Seedless Vascular Plants/Semi Vascular Plants

Can move away from water

Greater amount of Vascular Tissue

Swimming sperm cells

Larger than Nonvascular Plants but not the largest

Reproduce via Spores

Seed Plants/True Vascular Plants

Can live anywhere

Flying sperm cells (pollen)

Reproduce via Seeds

Most extensive Vascular Tissue

Seed Plants: Gymnosperms

No flower/no fruit

Seed Plants: Angiosperms

Flowers/fruits

Higher plants

Hepaticophyta (hepatic - liver) “Liverworts”

6,500 species

Small, flat, wet, about the size of a pinkie fingernail

Almost no zylem/phloem

Heterosporous

Gemmae cups - asexual reproductive structures

Thallus

Body of the plant

Heterosporous

Separate sexes, male plant - sperm, female plant - eggs

Anthocerophyta (cero - horn) “Hornworts”

100 species (smallest number of species)

Similar habitat and growth form

Horn shaped spore and reproductive structure

Homosporous - sexes are combined

Bryophyta (bryo - bushy/hairy) “Mosses”

10,000 species

Heterosporous

Morphology of Bryophyta

Roots - Rhizoid - fake roots

Stems - solitary structure with hairlike structures/leaves called Microphylls on the stem

Leaves - Microphylls that start from the ground up

Water - soaks up from the ground up and laterally from the leaves

Vestigial

Weak, underdeveloped structure that is present but nonfunctional

ex. wisdom teeth

Archegonia (female)

Eggs are produced

Antheridia (male)

Sperm is produced

Moss Examples:

1. “Peat Moss” Sphagnum

2. “Spanish Moss”

3. “Reindeer Moss”

4. “Carpet Moss”

“Peat Moss” Sphagnum

Located in a bog - soil saturated with water, plants alive on the surface

Layered, never totally decomposes because it’s so acid-rich. Common to find bodies, holds water very well with generations of layers like a sponge

“Spanish Moss”

Flowering plants that hangs from trees and can be used for furniture

Located in trees in Mobile, New Orleans, bayous

NOT actually a moss

“Reindeer Moss”

Algae and Fungus that reindeer eat

“Carpet Moss”

Nonvascular, like a carpet

P: Pterophyta (winged plant) True Fern

12,000 species (larfest group of lower plants)

Morphology:

Leaves - Megaphylls called Fronds, Pinnules, and Fiddleheads

Roots - Vestigial, rhizoids

Stems - They spread through rhizomes (horizontal stem that lays on the ground, used as roots)

Reproduction - Microscopic gametophytes (sperm/egg cell plant)

Frond

Specific name for a fern leaf

Pinnule

Finger-like lobes of a fern

Fiddlehead

Immature fern leaf/frond

Gametophyte

Prothallus - specific name for a fern’s gametophyte

Antheridia and Archegonia are located on prothallus. Some ferns are both heterosporous and homosporous

Sporophyte - spore plant (Fern)

Has a sorus and sexual dimorphism

Sorus

Grouping of multiple sporangium located on the underside of a fern

Sporangium

Spore producing structure

Spores

Microscopic seed-like structure, can grow into the prothallus

Indusium

Like an umbrella/covering that sits on top of the spores

Hygroscopic Operation

Opens up when there’s lots of moisture

Sexual Dimorphism

ANY physical differences

ex. male deers have antlers, females don’t

Common Ferns of Alabama

1. Cinnamon Fern Osmunda cinnamomea

2. Royal Fern Osmunda regalis

3. Resurrection Fern Polypodium polypodioides

4. Bracken Fern Pteridium aquilinum

5. Ebony Spleenwort Aspenium platyneuron

6. Netted Chain Fern Lorinseria areolata

7. Christmas Fern Polystichum acrostichoides

8. Mosquito Fern Azolla caroliniana

9. Tutwiler Fern Asplenium tutwilerae

10. Sensitive Bead Fern Onoclea sensibilis

Cinnamon Fern

Largest fern in North America

Sterile reproductive leaves are green

Fertile reproductive leaves are brown cinnamon colored

Royal Fern

Grows out of standing water

Called royal because of gold reproductive leaves at the top

Resurrection Fern

Grows on tree surfaces

Appears to be dead during droughts but can “resurrect” out of its fetal fern position when there’s more moisture

Bracken Fern

Only toxic/poisonous fern in North America if ingested

Always has three leaves on the stem

Can survive in dry, sandy climates but is very under stress. Gives off toxins/chemicals to warn off other animals from eating it

Netted Chain Fern

Named after its reproductive leaf that’s divided into segments that look like links of a chain microscopically

Looks like a fishnet and is sexually dimorphic

Christmas Fern

Evergreen, used as Christmas decorations

Mosquito Fern

World’s smallest fern and it floats on the surface of the water

Located where mosquitoes breed

Wiggle tails

Mosquito larvae that fails to breed properly due to the Mosquito fern blocking their air supply because of its thick mat like structure over water

Tutwiler Fern

Native to Northern Hale County

Named after Julia Tutwiler

Eudenic

Eudenic

Restricted/isolated to a very specific place

Sensitive Bead Fern

It folds up and wilts when touched, takes special steps to avoid being eaten

Sphenophyta (bushy, shaggy)

“Horsetails” “Pipes” “Scouring Rushes”

Extant

Opposite of extinct

Equisetum (Sphenophyta)

Only living member of the Spenophyta (Extant)

Could be 40-60 ft, much larger

Produced much of the coal because of the carbon inside of it

Calamites (Sphenophyta)

Extinct

Carboniferous Period/Coal Age

Morphology:

Stems - primary photosynthetic structure, hollow from end to end like a straw , 2 ft

Leaves - does not play a major role in the plant, not many

Reproduction - has a Strobilus at the very top of the stem, looks like a pinecone

Almost no grazing mammal will touch them, very gritty and can take off the hairs and skin of your arms, resembles an old timey horsetail

Lycophyta “Club Moss”

Lycopodium “Club Moss” - strobili looks like a club, 90s shag carpet or wolf’s foot

“Ground Pine” or “Ground Cedar”

Lepidodendron - Spotted tree, extinct member of the phylum

Carboniferous Period - huge, other plant that’s responsible for coal

Psilotophyta “Whisk Ferns”

NOT a fern

Psilotum nudem

Morphology:

Stems - green, long, branched

Leaves - no leaves, shaped like a broom/whisk