Exam 29: Plant Diversity I: How Plants Colonised Land

The following question refers to the generalised life cycle for land plants shown in the figure. Each number within a circle or square represents a specific plant or plant part, and each number over an arrow represents meiosis, mitosis, or fertilisation. - In the figure, which number represents the mature gametophyte?

If the kingdom Plantae is someday expanded to include the charophytes (stoneworts), then the shared derived characteristics of the kingdom will include ________.

Which of the following statements is accurate with regard to the life cycle of mosses?

Microphylls are found in which plant group?

Grades, as opposed to clades, ________.

If animals had alternation of generations like plants, ________.

The haploid gametophytes of bryophytes are ________.

Assuming equal spore production rates, what is the likely consequence in a bryophyte with both asexual and sexual reproduction versus one with only sexual reproduction?

Which of the following characteristics of plants is absent in their closest relatives, the charophyte algae?

Which of the following environmental factors probably helped early plants to successfully colonise land?

In the Great Australian Desert, rainfall averages about 30 centimetres per year. Yet, it is not uncommon when hiking in this extremely arid zone 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. -Which of the following features is most important for true mosses and ferns to reproduce in the desert?

If humans had been present to build log structures during the Carboniferous period (they were not), which plant types would have been suitable sources of logs?

As you stroll through a moist forest, you are most likely to see a ________.

Which of the following is an accurate statement about plant reproduction?

The fact that both charophytes and green plants contain chlorophylls a and b demonstrates which of the following?

Which of the following statements about the transition from ocean to land by plants is most likely to be accurate?

If you walk through an area with mosses and ferns, you are seeing ________.

Increasing the number of stomata per unit surface area of a leaf when atmospheric carbon dioxide levels decline is most analogous to a human ________.

Which of the following statements about the zygotes of plants is most likely to be accurate?

Two small, poorly drained lakes lie close to each other in a northern forest. The basins of both lakes are composed of the same geologic substratum. One lake is surrounded by a dense Sphagnum mat; the other is not. Compared to the pond with Sphagnum, the pond lacking the moss mat should have ________.