Name:
Date:
Biology 11: Kingdom Plantae
Unit Topics
1. Analyze how the increasing complexity of algae, mosses, and ferns represent an evolutionary
continuum of adaptation to a land environment.
a) Examine green algae and describe the characteristics that unify them
b) Use examples of unicellular, colonial, and multicellular green algae to illustrate their increasing
complexity
c) Examine mosses and describe the characteristics that unify them (p.346)
d) Examine ferns and describe the characteristics that unify them (p.347)
e) Describe alternation of generations in algae, mosses, and ferns
f) Describe features of mosses and ferns that have enabled adaptation to a land environment
2. Analyze how the increasing complexity of gymnosperms and angiosperms contribute to
survival in a land environment
a) Examine gymnosperms and describe the characteristics that unify them
b) Explain how gymnosperms are adapted for survival in a land environment with respect to the
following: alternation of generations, roots, stems, leaves, seeds, pollen, vascular tissue (p.348 to
349)
c) Examine angiosperms and describe characteristics that unify them (p.350 to 351)
d) Use specimens to differentiate between monocots and dicots (p.623 )
e) Describe how angiosperms are adapted for survival in a land environment, with respect to
alternation of generations, flowers, pollen, enclosed seeds, fruit, roots, stems, leaves, vascular
tissue
f) Compare the ways in which mosses, ferns, gymnosperms, and angiosperms have adapted to a
land environment (p.342 +)
Vocabulary
adaptation, alternation of generations, colonial, dicots, enclosed seeds, flowers, fruit, leaves,
monocots, multicellular, pollen, roots, seeds, stems, unicellular, vascular tissue
Biology 11: Plant diversity
Page 1
Biology 11: Kingdom Plantae
Evolution of Plants
1. Plant Common Ancestor
-Land plants and green algae (Charophytes) share many common features
and as such it is believed that they evolved from a common ancestor that
also possessed these characteristics:
_____________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
-Since they started to move onto the land 475mya, land plants have had to evolve to cope
with very different environmental conditions than their algal relatives. What are some
new challenges that living on land posed?
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
-What were some benefits to living on land rather than in the water?
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
Biology 11: Plant diversity
Page 2
As illustrated in the diagrams above and below, plants have made numerous adaptations
to successfully colonize land. Some of them that we will discuss are:
a) Maintaining Moisture:
-Achieved by leaves and stems being covered by a waxy cuticle that prevents water loss.
-Gas exchange occurs through pores called stomata, which are open while the sun is out
and closed at night to prevent water loss through evaporation.
b) Obtaining Soil and Air Resources:
-Plants have specialized structures to extract resources from:
i) Soil:
-Roots anchor plants and absorb water and mineral nutrients from the soil. Roots grow
outwards from apical meristems to increase the surface area for absorption.
-Vascular tissue (cells joined into tubes) carries water and nutrients from the roots to the
entire plant body.
ii) Air
Biology 11: Plant diversity
Page 3
-Leaves obtain CO2 from the air and light from the sun. They also grow from apical
meristems.
c) Supporting Body Weight:
-Air provides less support than water, so land plant cell walls are thickened with a
chemical called lignin.
d) Reproduction and Dispersal:
i) Fertilization:
-Like animals, reproduction on land required the development of specialized structures to
allow fertilization to happen in the absence of water.
-The most advanced plants have pollen grains containing sperm that are able to be carried
by the wind or animals to the egg.
ii) Embryo Development:
-Unlike algae, the zygote (fertilized egg) remains attached to and nourished by the parent
plant during development.
iii) Offspring Dispersal:
-Like reptiles, the most advanced plants protect their offspring in seeds. Unique to plants
is that these seeds actually function in dispersal.
*Not all of the above characteristics are found in every plant! The first plants to evolve
were, like amphibians, restricted to moist areas because they relied on water to carry
sperm to the egg, for example.
Biology 11: Plant diversity
Page 4
2. Relationships Between Plant Groups
-The diagram below highlights one view of the relationships between plants.
What is a major difference between the bryophytes (non-vascular plants) and the vascular
plants?
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
Biology 11: Plant diversity
Page 5
3. Alternation of Generations
-Plants have both haploid and diploid generations in their life cycles (text 346).
-Use Figure 17.3 to complete this diagram, which illustrates alternation of generations in
plant life cycles.
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________
Biology 11: Plant diversity
Page 6
Nonvascular plants: Bryophytes
-Bryophytes are primitive plants. They have evolved some characteristics which allow
them to survive on land, but they still need to be in a moist environment.
-Nonvascular plants consist of three divisions:
Liverworts
Diploid
Haploid
Mosses
Hornworts
Characteristics common to all nonvascular plant (Bryophytes) are (text 344):
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
Biology 11: Plant diversity
Page 7
Mosses (text 346-347)
1. Describe the habitat of moss and explain why they have to live in these areas:
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
-Examine the Moss Life Cycle animation on the text website (Chapter 17) and use text
346-347 to illustrate the moss life cycle diagram below:
*Examine the Bryophytes in the classroom and complete the lab package.
Biology 11: Plant diversity
Page 8
Seedless Vascular plants
-These are the first land plants to possess vascular tissue and modern examples include:
Examples of these are whisk ferns, club mosses, horsetails and true ferns.
Also Fig 17.2C
Whisk Fern
True Ferns
Biology 11: Plant diversity
Horse Tail
Club Moss
Page 9
-Moss-like plants were joined by seedless vascular
plants 420 million years ago. Because of their
vascular tissue and rigid cell walls, these new plants
were capable of ranging in height from one metre to
as large as trees! -Seedless vascular plants formed
the great swamp forests of the Carboniferous Period.
Because of the anaerobic swamp environment these plants were not decomposed
completely after they died and were later transformed by the heat and pressure of
overlying sediments into peat and coal.
-Fossil evidence indicates that these plants
differed from bryophytes as they possessed
vascular tissue. There are two types of
vascular tissue:
1. Xylem: Dead, hollow cells joined together
to make tubes, this tissue transports a
solution of water and inorganic nutrients
(xylem sap) from the roots to the leaves.
2. Phloem: Living cells with their
nucleus moved into a companion cell
so that the cytoplasm can transport a
sugary liquid (phloem sap) from:
i) Sugar Source (leaves) to Sugar Sink
(Roots).
ii) Sugar Sink to growing shoots and
roots.
Biology 11: Plant diversity
Page 10
Ferns
How are ferns different in their life cycle from that of other non-vascular plants?
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
-Examine the Fern Life Cycle animation on the text website (Chapter 17) and use text
347 to illustrate the fern life cycle diagram below:
Biology 11: Plant diversity
Page 11
Gymnosperms
-Gymnosperms are plants that have vascular tissue and seeds! However, their seeds are
called “naked” as they are not protected within a fruit.
-Some gymnosperms that you may recognize are:
Ginko bilboa
Fir
Cycad
Yew
Cedar
-All gymnosperms possess cones, which are modified leaves of the sporophyte. Each
“leaf” or scale contains a sporangium that produces spores by meiosis. Unlike seedless
plants, these spores are not released but develop into the gametophyte within the cone.
The gametophyte later releases gametes that combine to form a new sporophyte.
Biology 11: Plant diversity
Page 12
-Examine the Gymnosperm Life Cycle animation on the text website (Chapter 17) and
use text 349 to illustrate the gymnosperm life cycle diagram below:
1. Where are the male and female gametophytes in seed plants?
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
2.What is a seed?
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
Biology 11: Plant diversity
Page 13
3. How does pollen help gymnosperms to adapt to life on land?
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
4. How do seeds help gymnosperms to adapt to life on land?
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
5. As land plants evolved to become better adapted to life on land, what happened to the
relative dominance of the sporophyte and gametophyte generations? (use the diagram
below to answer this question.)
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
Overview of Alternation of Generations in Plants
Biology 11: Plant diversity
Page 14
Angiosperms
-Angiosperms are flowering plants that have vascular tissue and enclose their seeds inside
of fruit. They are the largest and most successful group of plants and include:
Echinacea
Cherry Trees
Raspberries
Pineapple
-Analyse the diagram right to understand how the
part of the flower perform the same functions as
the cones in gymnosperms.
Biology 11: Plant diversity
Page 15
-Label the diagram of the flower below and answer the questions that follow (text 350)
1. What are the functions of a flower?
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
2. How did fruit containing enclosed seeds
evolve?
__________________________________
__________________________________
__________________________________
__________________________________
__________________________________
__________________________________
__________________________________
__________________________________
__________________________________
Biology 11: Plant diversity
Page 16
3. Which part of a flower develops into the seed? ________________________________
4. Which part of the flower develops into the fruit? ______________________________
5. How does pollination take place?
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
-Examine the Angiosperm Life Cycle animation on the text website (Chapter 17) and use
text 351 to illustrate the angiosperm life cycle diagram below
Biology 11: Plant diversity
Page 17
Fruit Formation (text 637)
What part of the flower develops into a fruit? __________________________________
This table compares different types of fruits:
Biology 11: Plant diversity
Page 18