Reproduction in Animals and Plants

Comprehensive vocabulary flashcards covering the concepts, anatomical structures, processes, and comparisons of plant and animal reproduction.

Reproduction

A characteristic of life defined as the production of offspring, which ensures the continuation of the species and enables it to colonise new habitats and survive changing environmental conditions.

Asexual reproduction

A form of reproduction where one individual produces offspring without fertilisation through mitosis only, resulting in offspring that are genetically identical to the parent and to each other (clones).

Advantages of asexual reproduction

No time or energy is wasted seeking a mate, and large numbers of offspring can be produced.

Sexual reproduction

A form of reproduction involving two parents, cell division by meiosis, and fertilisation, producing offspring that show variation and differ from each other and their parents.

Spermatozoon

The male gamete in humans.

Ovum

The female gamete in humans, which is sucked into the oviduct on release from the ovary and pushed along by a current.

Menstrual cycle

A reproductive cycle that begins at puberty and is usually a $28$-day cycle in human females, encompassing ovulation, the build-up of the uterine walls, and menstruation.

Oestrogen and progesterone

Hormones that control key processes of the menstrual cycle, including ovulation, the build-up of the uterine walls, and menstruation.

Zygote

The diploid cell formed when fertilisation of the female gamete by the male gamete occurs in the oviduct, which then implants itself into the uterine wall.

Amniotic fluid

The fluid that protects the developing human embryo.

Placenta

The developing organ responsible for nourishing the developing human embryo.

Contraception

Methods designed to prevent pregnancy from occurring.

Pathway of sperm

$$\text{testes} \rightarrow \text{epididymis} \rightarrow \text{sperm duct} \rightarrow \text{urethra}$$

Flower

The reproductive organ of a flowering plant that produces male and female gametes (reproductive cells) which fuse to produce offspring.

Five main parts of a flower

Gynaecium, androecium, corolla, calyx, and receptacle.

Flower structure diagram

A labelled diagram of a flower where: A is petal, B is anther, C is ovule, D is filament, E is sepal, and F is receptacle.

Pollen grain

The male gamete of a flowering plant, which is transported from the anther to the stigma of a flower during pollination.

Ovule

The female gamete structure in flowering plants that develops into a seed after fertilisation.

Pollination

The transfer of pollen grains from the anther to the stigma of a flower belonging to the same species.

Self-pollination

The transfer of pollen grains from the anther of one flower to the stigma of the same flower, or to other flowers on the same plant.

Cross-pollination

The transfer of pollen grains from the anther of one plant to the stigma of another plant belonging to the same species.

Fertilisation (in plants)

The fusion of the male and female nuclei in the ovary.

Seed and fruit development

Post-fertilisation events in which the ovule develops into a seed and the ovary develops into a fruit.

Agents of dispersal

External agents and mechanisms that spread seeds and fruits away from the parent plant, including animals (insects and birds), water, wind, and mechanical flicking when fruits dry and curl.