Chapter 2: Plant Diversification

Ancestral green algae evolved and led to the diversification of land plants. This phylogeny
occurred through plant morphology, biochemistry, and genetics. From one ancestral green alga
species, 10 phyla of extant plants arose. These ten phyla can be broken down into two categories:
Bryophytes (nonvascular plants), and Vascular plants.

Bryophytes:
The bryophyte clade is composed of three phyla of non-vascular plants: phylum
Hepatophyta (liverworts), phylum Anthocerophyta (hornworts), and phylum Bryophyta (mosses).

Liverworts Hornworts
(Phylum Hepatophyta) (Phylum Anthocerophyta)
 Hornworts have grass like
Liverworts are described as “thalloid”
sporophytes and there is a sporangium which
because of the flattened shape of their
extends along its length and releases spores
gametophytes. Some liverworts are called
at the tip of its “horn”. Gametophytes grow
“leafy” because their gametophytes have
horizontally and are often attached to
stemlike structures with leaflike parts.
multiple sporophytes.

Mosses
(Phylum Bryophyta)

Moss gametophytes grow vertically and they are the structures that primarily make up a
carpet of moss. Moss sporophytes turn brown when they are ready to release spores.

Ecological importance:
A wetland moss genus called Sphagnum is common and it forms widespread deposits of
partially decayed organic material known as peat. It is estimated that 400 billion tons of organic
carbon are stored in peat worldwide. These reservoirs of carbon help to stabilize global atmospheric
CO2 concentrations. In addition, peat is a fuel source, notably in Canada and Ireland. Peat also serves
as a soil conditioner, so it is often used for packing plant roots during shipping. Unfortunately,
current overproduction of Sphagnum may reduce its ecological benefits.

“Tolland Man” is a
bog mummy dating
from 405- 100 BC.
Sphagnum can
preserve a human
body for thousands
of years due to its
acidity and lack of
oxygen.
This is a peat bog being harvested.
 Vascular plants:
Vascular plants dominate today’s landscape. Fossils indicate that the earliest vascular plant
ancestors were on earth more than 400 million years ago. Unlike Bryophytes, these species had
sporophytes which were branched and not dependent on gametophytes for growth. This branching also
led to more complex bodies with multiple sporangia. This evolutionary development increased sperm
production and increased survival despite herbivory. The main traits which distinguish vascular plants
are: life cycles with dominant sporophytes, xylem and phloem, and roots and leaves. Vascular plants
can be divided into two groups: seedless vascular plants and seed plants.

Seedless vascular plants:

Pterophytes
(Phylum Pterophyta)

There are three types of Pterophytes: whisk ferns and relatives, horsetails, and ferns. Nearly all
seedless plants are homosporous.

Ferns:
Ferns sporophytes often have horizontal stems which led to the formation of fronds (large
leaves). Most species of fern have megaphylls, stalked sporangia with spring-like devices to catapult
spores into the air, and are homosporous. Some species produce more than a trillion spores over
their lifetime.

Seedless vascular plants have a sporophyte- dominant life cycle. The fern life cycle (on the
next page) is representative of all Pterophytes.
 The fern life cycle:

Vascular seed plants:

Seed plants can be divided into two groups: gymnosperms and angiosperms. They have
had an enormous impact on human society. The domestication of these plants, especially
angiosperms, led to one of the most important cultural changes in human history, the shift from
hunter- gatherer societies to permanent farming settlements.

Heterospory:
Seed plants evolved from plants that had megasporangia and microsporangia.
Megasporangia produce spores that give rise to female gametophytes and microsporangia produce
microspores that give rise to male gametophytes.

Seeds:
A seed is a sporophyte embryo, along with its food supply, packaged into a protective coat.
Seeds are more resistant than spores and can be widely distributed by wind or animals.
 Gymnosperms:
Gymnosperms are plants which have “naked” seeds, for their seeds are not enclosed in
ovaries. Their seeds are exposed, usually in the form of cones (strobili). Of the ten plant phyla of
land plants, four are gymnosperms: Cycadophyta, Ginkgophyta, Gnetophyta, and Coniferophyta.

Phylum Cycadophyta Phylum Ginkgophyta

Cycads have large cones and palmlike Ginkgo biloba is the only species of this
leaves. Only 130 species survive today, but phylum. It is the source of herbal extract that
they thrived during the Mesozoic era, or the reportedly improves memory. It also tolerates
“Age of Cycads”. high amounts of air pollution. And it has fan-
like leaves that turn gold in the fall.

Phylum Gnetophyta
Gnetophytes consist of three genera: Gnetum, Ephedra, and Welwitschia. Although these
species are different in appearance, the genera are grouped based on molecular data.

Welwitschia mirabilis lives

Ephedra are desert shrubs,
only in the deserts of southwestern
commonly called “Mormon tea”.
Gnetum includes about Africa. Its strap- like leaves are
They produce ephedrine which is used
among the largest leaves known.
medically
35 species of tropical trees, as a decongestant.
shrubs, and vines.
Phylum Coniferophyta

This phylum is by far the largest of the gymnosperm phyla. Most conifers are evergreens;
they retain their leaves throughout the year.
 Douglas fir provides more timber The sequoia is one of the The “berries” of the common
than any other North American tree largest living organisms and juniper are actually ovule- producing
species. also among the most ancient. cones consisting of fleshy
sporophylls.

Gymnosperm evolution:
Gymnosperms appear early in fossil record and dominated Mesozoic terrestrial. Early
gymnosperms lived in Carboniferous ecosystems still dominated by seedless vascular plants. Flora
and fauna changed dramatically as many groups of organisms disappeared and others became
prominent. Gymnosperms, such as pines and furs, adapted to arid conditions, and though they do
not dominate terrestrial ecosystems, gymnosperms remain an important part of the Earth’s flora.

The life cycle of a pine:

The dominant generation of the
gymnosperm life cycle is the long lived
sporophyte. The female gametophyte, the ovule,
is nutritionally dependent on the sporophyte.
Fertilization of the sperm and egg cell produces
a woody naked seed.
Angiosperms:
All angiosperms are classified under phylum Anthophyta. The key adaptations of
angiosperms are flowers and fruits. Flowers generally consist of four whorls of modified leaves:
sepals, petals, stamens (which produce pollen), and carpels (which produce ovules). Ovaries ripen
into fruits, which are often carried by wind, water, or animals to new locations. In the angiosperm
lifecycle, double fertilization occurs when a pollen tube discharges two sperm into the female
gametophyte. One sperm fertilizes the egg, while the other combines with two nuclei at the center of
the female gametophyte and starts the development of food- storing endosperm tissue. The
endosperm nourishes the developing embryo.
The evolution and co- evolution of angiosperms:
Angiosperms underwent adaptive radiation during the late Mesozoic era. Evolutionary
relationships among angiosperms are still actively debated. Stamens could have evolved from a
leaflike structure; an alternative is that they came from slender branch systems bearing terminal
sporangia. Sepals were probably derived directly from leaves. Petals possibly originated from
leaves in some groups, probably derived from stamens in most groups. Many
angiosperms co- evolved with insect species, for pollination of flowers by
animals and transport of seeds by animals are very important factors of
angiosperm evolution.

Monocots Dicots
The name Monocot comes from the The name Dicot comes from the fact
fact that they have one cotyledon, or seed that they have two cotyledons, or seed leaves,
leaf, in the embryo. in the embryo.
 Products made
from seed plants:
Most of the food humans depend on come from angiosperms. Wheat, rice, maize,
cassava, and sweet potatoes make up 80% of the calories humans consume. We also depend on
angiosperms to feed livestock. In addition to basic crops, flowering also provides two of the
world’s most popular beverages: tea and coffee. Spices and cocoa beans are also derived from
flowering plants. Seed plants are also sources of wood. Wood is a primary source of fuel and
used to make paper, like the paper in this book! In addition, humans have depended on seed
plants to create medicines for centuries. In conclusion, humans depend on seed plants for food,
wood, and many medicines.

Threats to plant diversity:

The ever- expanding human population is causing plant species to near extinction at an
alarming rate. The most common destruction is slash- and- burn clearing of rainforests for
agricultural use, and as these forests disappear so do thousands of plant species. Once these
species disappear they will never come back. There are many ethical and practical reasons for
concern about the alarming rate at which this loss of plant diversity is occurring. For example,
most of our food is based on the cultivation of only about two dozen species of seed plants, and
fewer than 5,000 have been studied as potential sources of medicines, this leaves many people
wondering if we are not only destroying a species, but a future cure. Preserving plant diversity is
an important issue that raises many questions about how we treat our current environment.