Ferns Life Cycle

Group 6 Member: 1. 2. 3. 4. Amalia Khanza Nabila Az-zahra Sammy Alva Aditya Siti Azzahra

Class : 12-6
Date: 26-9-2012

Background
Our background to make this essay is for complete our task in lab. Bahasa and the topic that we want to tell to you is about ferns life cycle. We choose ferns as the topic because we think ,ferns has an unique life cycle but not all of the people know about that. The life cycle of ferns is different from other land plants as both the gametophyte and the sporophyte phases are free living. We expect that the topic that we choose can increase our knowledge.

Explanation

About Fern Ferns (or ferns) is a group of plants with a true vascular system (Tracheophyta, has a wooden vessel and tapis vessels) but does not produce seeds for sexual reproduction. Instead of seeds, the plant is maintained spore as a reproduction generative, like mosses and fungi. Ferns scattered throughout the world, except the perpetual snowy areas and dry areas (deserts). A total of nearly 10,000 known species, with an estimated 3,000 of them grew up in Indonesia. Most members of ferns growing in moist to wet tropical regions.

Ferns tend to be found in marginal growing conditions, such as the moist forest floor, cliff hills, crawling on tree trunks or rocks, in a pond / lake, the area around the volcanic crater, as well as between buildings that are not maintained. Nevertheless, the availability of adequate water at regular intervals is necessary because one phase dependent on the presence of water, which is a media movement of sperm toward the egg. Ferns are not as important economically as seed plants but have considerable importance in some societies. Some ferns are used for food, including the fiddleheads of bracken, Pteridium aquilinum, ostrich fern, Matteuccia struthiopteris, and cinnamon fern, Osmundastrum cinnamomeum. Fern Life Cycle Sporangia (Clustered in sori) The sporangia is the structure which produces spores. In ferns the sporangia are usually aggregated into particular bigger structures, if you turn over a fern frond and you might see lines and those are aggregations of the sporangia. Meiosis The typical big fern plant, what it does is by meiosis produces spores and the spores have half the number of chromosomes of the big parent plant. Spores So a spore is the product of meiosis. In ferns its tiny, if you think of a ruler and think how big a centimetre is and divide that by ten then you've got a millimetre and then divide that by ten again and then halve it that is about the size of the spore. Spore germination Spores are released into the wind. If those spores happen to land somewhere suitable they will grow into what is called a gametophyte and that is a whole separate individual plant. Its very tiny, maybe the size of your fingernail, and its just like a little, thin, small green plate. What that does is it will produce the sex cells, the eggs and the sperm. Gametophyte (prothallus) The prothallus is the fern gametophyte. It is a green, photosynthetic structure that is one cell thick, usually heart or kidney shaped, 310 mm long and 28 mm broad. It is very difficult to find in the bush as it is so tiny. It doesnt have roots, stems or leaves but it does have rhizoids that anchor it to the soil and help with absorption. The underside of the prothallus is where the gametes are produced from the male and female sex organs. The prothallus has both male and female sex organs. Antheridium The antheridium is the male sex organ. These are small spherical structures that produce flagellate sperm. Archegonium The archegonium is the female sex organ. These are flask-shaped structures that produce an egg which is reached by the sperm swimming down the neck.

Fertilisation The sperm need to swim through water in order to get to the eggs, the eggs are housed or maintained in the gametophyte, and that dependence on water is why ferns are so often linked to wet habitats. If the sperm do manage to get to an egg, fertilisation occurs and that is where the two, the sperm and egg come together. That doubles the number of chromosomes and that gives rise to a whole new typical fern plant again and the cycle repeats. Developing sporophyte The young fern plant develops from the prothallus. Mature sporophyte The mature fern plant consists of 3 major parts the rhizome, the fronds and the sporangia. The mature fern plant is the sporophyte that produces spores which are released from sporangia

Conclusion
The life cycle of a typical fern is as follows: 1. A mature fern, called a sporophyte fern produces spores through a process called 'meiosis. Each spore has only half the genetic material of the parent plant, a condition called haploid. 2. The spores are dispersed 3. A spore grows by cell division into a gametophyte - still with only half the genetic material of an adult organism. 4. The gametophyte produces both sperm (antheridium) and eggs (archegonium) on the same organism. 5. The egg remains attached to the prothallus, but the sperm leaves the prothallus and swims to an egg on another plant which it then fertilizes. 6. The fertilized egg is now has a full set of genetic material (and is called diploid) and grows into a sporophyte (the typical adult "fern" plant).

This is the Fern Life Cycle from us, maybe there are still many disadvantages and weaknesses of our

essay. The author hopes the readers give criticism and suggestions to the author to build this paper to be
better. Hopefully this paper is useful for writers in particular are also readers in general.

4. How do spores travel from the parent plant to a new location? How long does it take a
spore to develop into a mature plant? Observe from live ferns or pictures how a young fern is different from an adult fern. Spores are stored by the fern in tiny cases called sporangia. These spore cases are massed together into a sorus (plural sori) which is visible to the naked eye on the underside of a fertile frond (not all fronds are fertile). The spore case is encircled by a ring consisting of a single layer of cells called an annulus. This ring goes almost all the way around the spore case. As the spore case dries out, it becomes brittle until it finally splits open. Since the ring is stronger than the rest of the spore case, it slowly pulls the case open. When water tension is released, the ring suddenly snaps, throwing spores out away from the fern at great speed. Because spores are so tiny (invisible to the naked eye), even the slightest breeze will carry them great distances. If the spore lands in a location with favorable conditions, it will develop into a gametophyte in about two weeks. If the gametophyte is fertilized, it will grow into a young fern in about 3 and a half months. The amount of time required for these growth periods varies greatly depending on conditions and the species. Fern Reproduction Fern reproduction involves some big words, but we will break them down for you as they are introduced. There are two generations in a fern's lifecycle, the diploid generation, and the haploid generation. The diploid generation has a full complement of genetic material, while the haploid generation has only half the genetic material. Fern reproduction The life cycle of a typical fern is as follows: 1. A mature fern, called a sporophyte fern produces spores through a process called 'meiosis (pronounced my-OH-sis). Each spore has only half the genetic material of the parent plant, a condition called haploid. 2. The spores are dispersed 3. A spore grows by cell division into a gametophyte - still with only half the genetic material of an adult organism. 4. The gametophyte produces both sperm and eggs on the same organism using a process called mitosis (pronounced my-TOE-sis). 5. The egg remains attached to the prothallus, but the sperm leaves the prothallus and swims to an egg on another plant ssssssswhich it then fertilizes. 6. The fertilized egg is now has a full set of genetic material (and is called diploid) and grows into a sporophyte (the typical adult "fern" plant).