Land Plant Introduction and Seedless Plants Study Guide
Relevant portions of Text:
 Ch 29: we cover material throughout the chapter although there are paragraphs that go into
more detail then you need to know (at this point). Let the Objectives and study questions
dictate which sections you read thoroughly.
 Ch30: Section 30.1 & pg 638-639
Objectives and Study Questions
1. What are the characteristics that land plants share with green algae (all green algae)
2. What evidence is there that the closest relative of land plants is Charophyta (both shared traits
and the biology of modern Charophytes)?
3. What are the derived characterstics of land plants (i.e., the traits that land plants have the
Charophytes don’t have).
4. What are the two main challenges of life on land?
5. Why is it advantageous for land plants to have dependent embryos?
6. What is the cuticle and why is it adaptive to life on land?
7. What are archegonia? Antheridia?
8. What are apical meristems?
9. What is sporopollenin and what beneficial function does it have?
10. What are the 4 main groups (not official taxa) of land plants?
11. What is a bryophyte? NOTE: don’t confuse the informal, general term bryophyte with the taxon
known as Bryophyta.
12. What are the characteristics of non-vascular plants (life cycle, size, reproduction, dispersal of
spores, etc).
13. Why are most bryophytes small?
14. What kinds of habitats do many bryophytes live in?
15. Why do bryophytes need moisture to complete their lifecycle?
16. How does the fact that most bryophytes are very thin (e.g., leaf-like structures of only 2 cells
thick) related to the fact it is non-vascular?
17. What are rhizoids and how are they similar to and different from roots?
18. Are there non-vascular plants that live in very dry and/or cold places?
19. What is sphagnum and what are some functions of peat?
20. How are non-vascular plants important ecologically?
21. What taxa of plants are included among the seedless, vascular plants?
22. What are the characteristics of the seedless, vascular plants?
23. What is vascular tissue and why is it adaptive to life on dry land?
24. How is the lifecycle of seedless, vascular plants different than non-vascular plants?
25. In what two ways does the presence of vascular tissue enable a plant to grow large and/or more
complex?
26. What are the two types of vascular tissue?
27. What are roots?
28. What are leaves? Microphylls? Megaphylls?
29. What is a sporophyll?
30. What is the difference between heterospory and homospory?
31. How did the rise of seedless vascular plants in the Devonian and Carboniferous periods effect
the climate of the earth?
32. What are the characteristics of seed plants?
33. How is the life cycle of seed plants different than that of non-vascular, and seedless vascular
plants?
34. What gamete is found in an ovule? What does the ovule turn into after the egg is fertilized?
35. How does the seed improve reproductive success on dry land (compared to a spore)?
36. What does a pollen grain contain? How does pollen improve reproduction on dry land?
37. What is the official name for the flowering plant taxon?
38. How do flowers improve reproduction on land?
39. What are fruit? What is the function of fruit?
40. How do fruit improve reproduction on dry land?