The Plant Life Cycle Game
I developed this activity to help students in an introductory biology course (BIOL 005B at the University of
California – Riverside) study plant life cycles. Students read about plant life cycles before arriving in lab.
During lab, I asked students to confer with their neighbors and attempt to fill in the following statements, while
I drew a generalized plant life cycle diagram on the board (see below).
o The multicellular stages are: ___________
o The sporophyte produces ____________ that produce ___________ that grow into the
___________
o The gametophyte produces __________ that produce _________ that grow into the
____________
o The haploid stages are: ___________
o The diploid stages are: ___________
Generalized plant life cycle:
Sporophyte
zygote
2N
Meiosis
Fertilization
1N
gametes
spore
Gametophyte
We went over the answers together, with reference to the plant life cycle.
I then moved on to plant diversity, and asked students to help me fill in the following table:
Mosses
Ferns and allies
Seed plants
Gametophyte
Dominant
Free-living (but
Very small, nutritionally
small)
dependent, stays within spore ->
endosporic development
Sporophyte
Nutritionally
Dominant
dependent
Vascular tissue?
No
Yes
Number of kinds
Usually only one kind
Two kinds: mega- (female) and
of sporangia,
micro- (male)
spores and
gametophytes
How male
As free-swimming sperm; require
As male gametophytes (that is,
gametes disperse
water for sexual reproduction
pollen)
Seeds?
No
Yes
At this point, we were ready for the plant life cycle game. Students worked in groups of 2. They were each
given a life cycle diagram (in which names and pictures of life cycle stages were missing) and a set of life cycle
stages for each plant group (mosses, ferns, and seed plants). These are included on the following pages. I asked
each group to start with either mosses or ferns and fill in as many life cycle stages as they could without looking
at the lab manual. When they could go no farther, they were to use the lab manual to resolve any remaining
uncertainties. Finally, they borrowed a key from me to check their work before moving on to the next life
cycle.
Fern life cycle stages:
Sporophyte
Gametophyte
Sperm
(fern)
(fern)
Spore
(fern)
Sporogenous
cells
(fern)
Zygote
Archegonium
(fern)
(fern)
(fern)
Antheridium
(fern)
Sporangium
Egg
(fern)
(fern)
Moss life cycle stages:
Sporophyte
Gametophyte
Archegonium
Sperm
(moss)
(moss)
Sporogenous
cells
(moss)
Zygote
(moss)
(moss)
(moss)
Antheridium
Spore
(moss)
(moss)
Sporangium
(moss)
Protonema
Egg
(moss)
(moss)
Seed plant life cycle stages:
Sporophyte
(seed plant)
Microspore
Megagametophyte
Pollen
(microgametophyte)
(seed plant)
(seed plant)
Megasporangium
Microsporangium
(seed plant)
(seed plant)
Ovule
Zygote
(seed plant)
(seed plant)
(seed plant)
Megasporocyte
Microsporocyte
(seed plant)
(seed plant)
Megaspore
(seed plant)
Seed
Egg
Sperm
(seed plant)
(seed plant)
(seed plant)
Fern life cycle
has
which contains
DIPLOID
Fertilization
Meiosis
HAPLOID
has
has
Moss life cycle
has
which contains
DIPLOID
Fertilization
Meiosis
HAPLOID
has
has
Seed plant life cycle
has
which contains
which contains
Meiosis
Meiosis
DIPLOID
Fertilization
HAPLOID
Structures in gray
area are within
the:
which develops
into the:
Fern life cycle key
Sporophyte
has
Sporangium
which contains
Sporogenous
cells
Zygote
DIPLOID
Fertilization
Meiosis
HAPLOID
Spore
Egg
Sperm
Antheridium
has
Archegonium
has
Gametophyte
Moss life cycle key
Sporophyte
has
Sporangium
which contains
Sporogenous
cells
Zygote
DIPLOID
Fertilization
Meiosis
HAPLOID
Spore
Egg
Antheridium
Sperm
has
Archegonium
has
Gametophyte
Protonema
Seed plant life cycle key
Sporophyte
has
Microsporangium
Zygote
Megasporangium
which contains
which contains
Microsporocyte
Megasporocyte
Meiosis
Meiosis
Microspore
Megaspore
DIPLOID
Fertilization
HAPLOID
Egg
Sperm
Pollen
(microgametophyte)
Structures in gray
area are within
the:
Ovule
which develops
into the:
Megagametophyte
Seed