Biology: Concepts and Investigations 2nd Edition by Mariëlle Hoefnagels

Exercise 16

A fern plant can produce as many as 50 million spores a year. How are these spores similar to and different from seeds? In a fern population that is neither shrinking nor growing, approximately what proportion of these spores is likely to survive long enough to reproduce? What factors might determine whether an individual spore successfully produces a new fern plant?