Vascular Plants

Vascular Plants (Phylum Tracheophyta)

• Tracheids - Specialised cells for conducting water and supporting tissues (forming the xylem vessels)
• All SPOROPHYTES in this group are larger than the gametophytes and have ROOTS, STEMS AND LEAVES.
• can be further sub divided into the non- sees tracheophytes and the seed plants

THE SPERMATOPHYTA 'Seed Plants';

Now represented by two Phyla:

- The Gymnosperms:
 ( Cycads, Gingkos, Gneetophytes, Confiers)

- Angiosperms
 (Magnoliphyta or flowering plants)

COMMON THINGS IN ALL SEED PLANTS;

• Seeds
• Reduced Gametophytes
• Heterospory: Spored of two different sizes and sexes
• Ovules: Female gametophyte, protected by tissues of sporangium
• Pollen: Male Gametes (Sperm cells)

THE ALTERNATION OF GERNERATION IN THE SPERMATOPHYTA;

 

• The gametophyte generation is reduced to a very small, simple stage (only a few cells!).

• The gametophyte develops partly or entirely whilst it is still nutritionally dependent on the sporophyte. 

Non Vascular Plants

Non Vascular Plants (Non- Tracheophytes): Bryophytes 

Main Features; 

• The group are largely confined to damp conditions which allow the passage of sperm to the archegonia and the flow of nutrients to individual’s cells. 

• Non- Vascular plants have recently been divided into 3 phyla which are started below (Originally one Bryophyte) and are classified according to the shape and the growth pattern of the sporophyte 

• They DON’T PRODUCE SEEDS due to them nurturing their zygotes in the tissues of the parent plant.

• They rely on the surface film of water to act as a transport system as tracheophytes are not huge plants therefore do not develop a transport system, so film of water transports all the nutrients which enters by diffusions. Some can tolerate very dry conditions but still relay on a moisture film for growth and reproduction.

Examples of Non vascular plants

Bryophyte (Mosses)

Formerly Class: Bryopside (musci)

First Fossil to date back 415 Mya.

Ø  Differentiated into simple leaf- like structures that can form stems

Ø  Some species with cells called hydroids which ‘die’ and become tubes through which water can pass- first origins of transport systems.

Ø  There are not lignified* but are otherwise analogous to xylem in the vascular plants.

Sporophyte is stalked with a spore capsule 

Hepatophyta (Liverworts)

Formerly class: Hepaticopsida

Thought to have been the first to evolve.

Ø  Some are leafy and prostrate, other are plate-like.

Ø  Sporophyte is not stalked (Although gametophyte which bears it may be)

Ø  Rhiziods (‘Rootlike structures’) are unicellular filaments

Anthocerophyta (Hornworts)

Formerly class: Anthocertopsida

Ø  Gametophytes always thalliod (not differenced into steam or leaf)

Ø  Sporophyte* stalked with needle like capsule- capable of indefinite growth.

Ø  Process stomata and form mutualistic relationship with cyanobacteria*

Form some of the largest non-tracheophytes- up to 20cm 

*SPOROPHYTE; is the diploid multicellular stage in the life cycle of a plant or alga. It develops from the zygote produced when a haploid egg cell is fertilized by a haploid sperm and each sporophyte cell therefore has a double set of chromosomes, one set from each parent.

*CYANOBACTERIA:  bacteria but are capable of photosynthesis. 

*LIGNIGIED: make rigid and woody by the deposition of lignin in cell walls.

LIFE CYCLE

Life Cycle Haploid/ Diploid Stage; Alternation of the generations between haploid gamete- producing Gametophyte and diploid spore-producing sporophytes, the gametophytes being the more prominent of the two

Life cycle of Non Vascular plants from Life, the science of biology

Sporophytes attached to the, and derive nourishment from, the gametophytes.

-          Male gametes (Mobile) are produced in an ANTHERIDUM

-          Female gametes are produced in an ARCHEGONIUM

Ø  The male swims in a surface film of a water and fertilise the female egg in situ. After syngamy, the sporophyte grows out of the gametophyte and derives its moistures and nutrients from it.

Remaining attached to the gametophyte throughout its life

Domain Plante (Basics)

Definition; 

‘A multicellular, Photosynthetic, eukaryotic organism (includes some algae)…which includes develops from the embryos protected by tissues of the parent plant” (all land plants)

THE LAND PLANTS; 

10 major clades;

•           Three clades have no system of conducting fluids- calling the Non- Vascular Plants or Non Tracheophytes
• 
  
•           Seven Clades have well- developed fluid transport systems based on cells called TRACHEIDS/ TRACHEOPHYTES

Divided into:

•       Non-vascular plants

•       Vascular land plants:

                - Non-seed plants

                - Seed plants:

                                >Gymnosperms

                                > Angiosperms

The Eukayotic Cell

Under Eukaryotic cell comes the Animal cell and Plant cell, and in comparison to the size the prokaryotic cell, the eukaryotic cell is much larger.

ANIMAL CELL

An animal cell and plant cell does have much more in common then in difference.

Typical Features;

Animal cell with the added chloplasts which is only in plants



 

MITOCHONDRIA;
the organelle that provides energy for the entire cell, by extracting from food during oxidative metabolism.

NUCLEUS;
command centre of the cell where DNA is located

ENDOPLASMIC RETICULUM;
smooth and rough;
Smooth - System of internal membranes that aids; manufacture of carbohydrates and lipids
Rough - Internal membranes studded with ribosomes that carry out proteins synthesis

GOLGI BODY;
collects, packages and distributes molecules manufactures molecules in the cell

(PLASMA) MEMBRANE;
Lipid bilayer in which proteins are embedded

RIBOSOMES;
Some complexes of RNA and Proteins that are sites synthesis

CHLOROPLAST;
is only found in the plant cell. This is on the diagram to show the difference in the animal and plant cells, chloroplast helps the plant cell produce food as it attaches it from the sun enabling photosynthesis.

PLANT CELL

As above you have the chloroplast which looks like this;

Heterotrophs capture light energy to produce their own food., Animal and bacterial cells contain chlorophyll, but it is not bound within organelles., Animal cells are able to capture light energy through stromal lamellae.

The only difference between a plant cell and an animal is;

1. Vacuole
2. Chloroplast (stated above)
3. Cell wall

VACUOLE;
 A membrane-bound organelle in the cytoplasm of most cells, especially plant cells, containing water and dissolved substances such as salts, sugars, enzymes, and amino acids.

CELL WALL;
a multi-layered structure unique to plants.
uses for this;
Strength to support the plant
Rigidity to fix cell shape
Flexibility
Porosity
Water-proofing
Barrier to pests
Protection against environmental stress 
Apoplastic transport
Signalling and sensing 

Cross section of both animal and plant cell to compare both