PLANT DIVERSITY

Definition of Plants

• Multicellular
• Eukaryotic
• Photosynthetic
• Autotrophic
• Cell walls made of cellulose
• Chlorophylls a and b
Plant Evolution
4 Main Groups of Land Plants
• Bryophytes – non vascular plants
• Mosses, liverworts, hornworts

• Pteridophytes - seedless vascular plants

• Lycophytes, ferns, horsetails, whisk ferns

• Gymnosperms – naked seed plants

• Ginko, cycads, gnete, conifers

• Angiosperms – flowering plants

Land Plant Evolution
• Ancestral green algae

• Aquatic plants: Charophyceans

• Land plants:
• Development of vascular tissue
• Development of seeds
• Development of flowering plants
 Charophyceans
• Closest relative of land
plants

• Algal group

• Similarities with land plants

• Rosette cellulose-synthesizing
complexes
• Located in plasma membranes
• Peroxisomes
• Flagellated sperm (some land
plants)
Evidence of common ancestor with
charophycean algae
• Homologous chloroplast
• Homologous cellulose walls
• Homologous peroxisomes
• Homologous sperm
• Molecular systematics
• Chloroplast DNA
• Ribosomal RNA
Adaptations of Land Plants
• Apical meristems
• Roots and shoots – growth
• Multicellular, dependent embryos
• “embryophytes”
• Transfer of nutrients from parent
• Alternation of generations
• Sporophyte (diploid) and gametophyte (haploid)
• Gametangia – gametes are produced within multicellular
organ
• Female – archegonia
• Male - Antheridia
• Walled spores – resist drying out
• Cuticle – waxy covering, water conservation
• Stomata – pores, water conservation
• Vascular tissue – transport water and minerals
Apical meristems of plant shoots and roots
Embryos of Land Plants
Alternation of generations
Walled Spore
Gametangia: Gametes produced within multicellular gametangia

Archegonium - female Antheridium - male

egg sperm
Cuticle of a stem: Prevents drying out
Vascular Tissue: Xylem and Phloem

Xylem
(water)

Phloem
(food)
Development of Alternation of Generations
• Delay in meiosis until one or more mitotic
divisions of the zygote occurred
• Result: multicellular, diploid sporophyte
• Increases number of spores produced per zygote
What is the Plant Kingdom?
Bryophytes
• Three phyla
• Hepatophyta: liverworts
• Anthocerophyta: hornworts
• Bryophyta: mosses
• Non-vascular
• Earliest land plants
• Gametophyte (haploid) is dominant form
• Anchored by rhizoids
• No true roots or leaves
Bryophytes
Life cycle of a moss
Moss life cycle

gametophyte gametangia sporophyte

Protonemata
sporophyte spores (pre-gametophyte)
Sphagnum, or peat moss

gametophyte sporophyte
Vascular Plants
• Vascular plants have
• Xylem – transports water
• Phloem – transports food
• Dominant sporophyte generation

• First vascular plants were seedless

• Three Groups
• Seedless plants
• Gymnosperms
• Angiosperms
Seedless Vascular Plants

• Two phyla
• Lycophyta – lycophytes
• Pterophyta – ferns, whisk ferns, horsetails

• Most have true roots and leaves

• Still require water for fertilization

Pteridophytes

Club “moss” Whisk fern

Horsetail Fern
Hypothesis for the development of leaves

• Probably evolved from a flap of stem tissue

• Stem had vascular tissue
• Microphylls
• Macrophylls – larger leaves with branched veins
Ferns
Life cycle of a fern
Fern sporophyll, a leaf specialized for spore production & sori
Sorus (sori): Clusters of sporangia – found on underside of leaves
Mature fern sporangium – releasing spores
Fern gametophyte
Archegonia of fern

Flagellated sperm
from antheridium
fertilize eggs in
archegonium

zygote
Fern sporophytes
Evolution of Seed Plants
• Reduction of gametophyte continued

• Seeds – important means of

dispersal

• Pollen – eliminated water

requirement for fertilization
• Pollination

• Two clades
• Gymnosperms
• Angiosperms
 Gametophyte/ Sporophyte Relationships
• Seed plants: further reduced gametophyte
• Female gametophyte and embryo protected by
parental sporophyte
Seed Development
• Fertilization initiates the transformation from ovule to seed
• Sporophyte embryo
• Food supply
• Protective coat
Seed Dispersal

• Seeds have
adaptations for
dispersal

• Wind
• Water
• Animal
Gymnosperms
• Four phyla
• Ginko
• Cycads
• Gnetophytes
• Conifers

• Naked seed – no fruit (ovary)

• Seeds develop on surface of sporophylls
• Evolved before angiosperms
Phylum Coniferophyta

Douglas fir Sequoia

Phylum Coniferophyta: Frasier Fir
Characteristics of Conifers
• Cone: reproductive structure
• Cluster of sporophylls
• Female cones: produce ovules - “pine cones”
• Male cones: produce pollen

• Seed develops from fertilized ovule – scale of cone

• Dominate in areas with short growing season

• High latitude or altitude

• Most are evergreens

• Some have needle-shaped leaves

• Adapted for dry conditions
• Thick cuticle
Life cycle of a pine
Pollen cone (male) – produces pollen

Pine pollen
Pine embryo

Embryo
(new sporophyte)
Angiosperms: Flowering Plants
Major Clades:
Phylum Anthophyta: Angiosperms
• Vascular seed plants
• Reproductive structures: flowers, fruits
• Most diverse group of plants today
• 2 groups

Monocots Dicots

# Petals Multiples of 3 Multiples of 4 or 5

# Cotyledons 1 2
Vascular bundles Scattered Circle
Root Fibrous Tap root
Xylem cells in Angiosperms
• Trachids
• Support
• Water transport
• Fiber **
• Support
• Vessel element **
• More efficient

** Evolutionary adaptations
of angiosperms
Flower Structure: Reproductive Adaptation of Angiosperms
Life cycle of an angiosperm
Fruit and Seed Dispersal
Flower-pollinator relationships