Exam 29: Plant Diversity I: How Plants Colonized Land

Use the information that follows to answer the questions below. Big Bend National Park in Texas is mostly Chihuahuan desert, where rainfall averages about 10 inches per year. Yet, it is not uncommon when hiking in this bone-dry desert to encounter mosses and ferns. One such plant is called "flower of stone." It is not a flowering plant, nor does it produce seeds. Under arid conditions, its leaflike structures curl up. However, when it rains, it unfurls its leaves, which form a bright green rosette on the desert floor. Consequently, it is sometimes called the "resurrection plant." At first glance, it could be a fern, a true moss, or a spike moss. -Upon closer inspection of the leaves of flower of stone, one can observe tiny, cone-like structures. Each cone-like structure emits spores of two different sizes. Based on this information, which of the following can be properly inferred about flower of stone? 1. It is heterosporous. 2. It is a fern. 3. The cone-like structures are sori. 4. It is a lycophyte. 5. It has separate male and female gametophytes.

At some time during their existence, bryophytes may feature

The following questions refer to the description below. There are many advantages for plants to living in an aqueous environment. For example, water provides support, the temperature of water fluctuates much less than on land, and external fertilization is facilitated in water. Nevertheless, plants successfully invaded land and diversified. -Which problem with growing on land does not fit with the adaptation to survive dry terrestrial conditions?

The next few questions are based on the following description. A biology student hiking in a forest happens upon an erect, 15-cm-tall plant that bears microphylls and a strobilus at its tallest point. When disturbed, the cone emits a dense cloud of brownish dust. A pocket magnifying glass reveals the dust to be composed of tiny spheres with a high oil content. -This organism probably belongs to the same phylum as the

The next few questions are based on the following description. A biology student hiking in a forest happens upon an erect, 15-cm-tall plant that bears microphylls and a strobilus at its tallest point. When disturbed, the cone emits a dense cloud of brownish dust. A pocket magnifying glass reveals the dust to be composed of tiny spheres with a high oil content. -Besides oil, what other chemical should be detected in substantial amounts upon chemical analysis of these small spheres?

Which of the following is not evidence that charophytes are the closest algal relatives of plants?

Refer to the following information to answer the next few questions. Researchers decided to test the hypothesis that if the 2-m tall Polytrichum gametophyte- sporophyte plants had acted as a physical buffer, then they would have reduced water's ability to erode the soil and carry away its nitrogen. They began with four equal-sized areas where Polytrichum mosses grew to a height of 2 m above the soil surface. One of the four areas was not modified. In the second area, the mosses were trimmed to a height of 1 m above the soil surface. In the third area, the mosses were trimmed to a height of 0.5 m above the soil surface. In the fourth area, the mosses were trimmed all the way to the ground, leaving only the rhizoids. Water, simulating rainfall, was then added in a controlled fashion to all plots over the course of one year. The figure below presents four graphs that depict potential results of this experiment. -If the actual results most closely resembled those in part (A)of the figure, then a further question arising from these data is: "Do the Polytrichum rhizoids have to be alive in order to reduce soil nitrogen loss, or do dead rhizoids have the same effect?" Arrange the following steps in the correct sequence to test this hypothesis. 1. Add metabolic poison to the soil of the experimental plot of mosses. 2. Apply water equally to the experimental and control plots. 3. Measure initial soil nitrogen contents of control and experimental plots. 4. Determine nitrogen loss from soil of control and experimental plots. 5. Establish two identical plots of Polytrichum mosses; one as a control, the other as the experimental treatment.

A student encounters a pondweed which, judging from its appearance, seems to be a charophyte. She brings a sample back to her biology lab. Using only a compound light microscope to study the sample, which of the following features should help her to determine whether the sample comes from a charophyte or from some other type of green alga? 1. molecular structure of enzymes inside peroxisomes 2. structure of sperm cells 3. presence of phragmoplasts 4. rings of cellulose-synthesizing complexes

Which of the following is a land plant that has flagellated sperm and a sporophyte-dominated life cycle?

The leaflike appendages of moss gametophytes may be one to two cell layers thick. Consequently, which of the following is least likely to be found associated with such appendages?

Given its composition and location, the phragmoplast should be directly involved in the

Suppose an efficient conducting system evolved in a moss that could transport water and other materials as high as a tall tree. Which of the following statements about "trees" of such a species would not be true?

If the kingdom Plantae is someday expanded to include the charophytes, then the shared derived characteristics of the kingdom will include 1. rings of cellulose-synthesizing complexes. 2. chlorophylls a and b. 3. alternation of generations. 4. cell walls of cellulose. 5. ability to synthesize sporopollenin.

Microphylls are found in which plant group?

Considering that the mature sporophytes of true mosses get their nutrition from the gametophytes on which they grow, and considering these generations as individual plants, what is true of the relationship between true moss sporophytes and gametophytes?

Use the information that follows to answer the questions below. Big Bend National Park in Texas is mostly Chihuahuan desert, where rainfall averages about 10 inches per year. Yet, it is not uncommon when hiking in this bone-dry desert to encounter mosses and ferns. One such plant is called "flower of stone." It is not a flowering plant, nor does it produce seeds. Under arid conditions, its leaflike structures curl up. However, when it rains, it unfurls its leaves, which form a bright green rosette on the desert floor. Consequently, it is sometimes called the "resurrection plant." At first glance, it could be a fern, a true moss, or a spike moss. -Upon closer inspection of the leaves of flower of stone, one can observe tiny, cone-like structures. Each cone-like structure emits spores of two different sizes. Consequently, flower of stone should be expected to possess which other characteristics? 1. a gametophyte generation that is dominant 2. lignified vascular tissues 3. microphylls 4. filamentous rhizoids, but not true roots 5. spores that are diploid when mature

If you were faced with the choice of eliminating all mutualistic symbioses involving plants and other organisms (besides humans), with the goal being to preserve the most plant biomass, which of the following would you save from elimination?

Use the information that follows to answer the questions below. Big Bend National Park in Texas is mostly Chihuahuan desert, where rainfall averages about 10 inches per year. Yet, it is not uncommon when hiking in this bone-dry desert to encounter mosses and ferns. One such plant is called "flower of stone." It is not a flowering plant, nor does it produce seeds. Under arid conditions, its leaflike structures curl up. However, when it rains, it unfurls its leaves, which form a bright green rosette on the desert floor. Consequently, it is sometimes called the "resurrection plant." At first glance, it could be a fern, a true moss, or a spike moss. -In which combination of locations would one who is searching for the gametophytes of flower of stone have the best chance of finding them? 1. moist soil 2. underground, nourished there by symbiotic fungi 3. south- or west-facing slopes 4. permanently shady places 5. far from any flower of stone sporophytes

Assuming that they all belong to the same plant, arrange the following structures from largest to smallest. 1. antheridia 2. gametes 3. gametophytes 4. gametangia

Mitotic activity by the apical meristem of a root makes which of the following more possible?