Gametophyte Is The Dominant Generation in The Life Cycles of Bryophytes

III.
Bryophytes

 Gametophyte is the dominant generation in the life cycles of
bryophytes
 Classified into three divisions based on sporophyte and
anatomical variations
 Bryophyta (mosses)
 Hepatophyta (liverworts)
 Anthecerophyta (hornworts)
 The suffix wort is an Anglo-Saxon term meaning herb.

They only superficially appear to have the roots, stems, and
leaves because, by definition, true roots, stems, and leaves
must contain vasculartissue, which the bryophytes lack.
Therefore, bryophytes are
often called the nonvascular plants.
MAJOR CHARACTERISTICS OF BRYOPHYTES
Lack vascular tissues- have hydroids (water

transport) and leptoids (solute transport)
Lack cuticle-survive best in moist habitats
Sperm are motile-require water for fertilization
Vegetative reproduction-gemmae propagules &
Fragmentation
Gametophyte generation is the predominant and

assimilative stage
Zygote retained in archegonium after fertilization;
Sporophyte depend on gametophyte for nutrients
 Poised between aquatic and terrestrial mode of life
 Have primitive and advanced features
Primitive features
o Depend on water for fertilization
o Lack proper vascular tissues
o Minute leaves without stomata
o Protonemal stage resembles algal predecessors
 A moss SPORE germinates and develops into a green mass of thin threads called
the PROTONEMA. The protonema, a phase in the gametophyte stage of the life
cycle, resembles a filamentous green alga.
Advanced features
o Have multicellular sporangia & gametangia
o Reproductive cells are surrounded by sterile cells
o Body structure is truly parenchymous
o Presence of cuticle and stomata in some species
o Presence of conducting strands (hydroids and leptoids)
Sexual reproduction
 require water for transport of sperm to egg
 The sperm are produced within tiny, typically stalked,
club-shaped structures called antheridia and can
often be referred to as antherozoids
 The eggs are produced in tiny, flask-like structures
called archegonia. Each archegonium holds one egg
(in a swollen section called the venter) and the sperm
enter through the channel in the narrower, tubular
section (or neck)
 A fertilized egg in an archegonium develops into the
sporophyte
 After fertilization, the sporophyte grows out of the
archegonium and nutrients for the developing
sporophyte are provided by gametophyte
 Sporophyte consist of foot (anchors in the
archegomnium)
o A seta with elevates the sporangium or capsule
o A portion of gametophyte called
calyptra(protects & covers the developing
capsule)
 Meiosis occur in the capsules producing haploid
spores
 When spores are matured, the lid of the capsule
opens and rows of hygroscopic teeth respond to
changes of humidity to open and release spores
 Spores germinate and divide to form protonema
which develops into GAMETOPHYTE
C. Ecological and economic benefits of bryophytes

 Bryophytes were the world’s only plants for 100 million years.
 Peat bogs are made mostly of moss called sphagnum. They

contain 400 billion tons of carbon and cut down the amount of
greenhouse gases. Peat is harvested, dried, and used as a
fuel.
 Sphagnum is harvested for use as a soil conditioner.

Division Hepaticophyta (the Liverworts)
 May have cuticle

 Flattened growth form often prostate
 Unicellular rhizoids on lower surface
 Upper surface smooth with pores for gas exchange
 Simple sporophyte
 Spores released by hygroscopic elaters
 Strong dorso-ventral flattened forms a thallus shape
 Generally heterothallic (sexes on separate plants)
 Common genus is Marchantia
Life cycle
 All liverworts exhibit the basic alternation of generations

 Meiosis produce half male and female spores so that
gametophyte can be male/female
 Marchantia reproduces both asexually and sexually.
Gemma cups on the upper surface of the thallus contain
gemmae, groups of cells that detach from the thallus and
can start a new plant.
 Sexual reproduction depends on disk-headed stalks that
bear antheridia and on
 umbrella-headed stalks that bear archegonia. Following
fertilization, tiny sporophytes composed of a foot, a short
stalk, and a capsule begin growing within archegonia.
Windblown spores are produced within the capsule.
Cooksonia, a vascular plant of the Silurian
Hornworts
• The hornwort gametophyte usually grows as a
thin rosette or ribbonlike thallus between 1 and
5 cm in diameter.
• Although some species of hornworts live on
trees, the majority of species live in moist, well-
shaded areas.
• They photosynthesize, but they also have a
symbiotic relationship with cyanobacteria, which,
unlike plants, can fi x nitrogen from the air.
• The small sporophytes of a hornwort resemble
tiny, green broom handles rising from a thin
gametophyte, usually less than 2 cm in
diameter.
• Like the gametophyte, a sporophyte can
photosynthesize, although it has only one
chloroplast per cell.
• A hornwort can bypass the alternation of
generations life cycle by producing asexually
through fragmentation.
The vascular plants
 vascular plants dominate the natural landscape in nearly all

terrestrial habitats
 Trees are vascular plants that achieve great height because

they have roots that absorb water from the soil and a vascular
tissue called xylem, which transports water through the stem
to the leaves. (Another conducting tissue called phloem
transports nutrients in a plant.)
 Fossil record tells us that the fi rst vascular plants, such as

Cooksonia, were more likely a bush than a tree
Mosses
• Mosses are the largest phyla of nonvascular plants,
with over 15,000 species.
• The term bryophytes is sometime used to refer only to
mosses.
• There are three distinct groups of mosses: peat
mosses, granite mosses, and true mosses.
• Although most prefer damp, shaded locations in the
temperate zone, some survive in deserts, and others
inhabit bogs and streams.
• In forests, they frequently form a mat that covers the
ground and rotting logs.
• In dry environments, they may become
shriveled, turn brown, and look completely
dead. As soon as it rains, however, the plant
becomes green and resumes metabolic
activity.
life cycle of a typical temperate zone
moss
• The gametophyte of mosses begins as an alga-
like branching fi lament of cells, the protonema,
which precedes and produces upright leafy
shoots that sprout rhizoids.
• The shoots bear either antheridia or archegonia.
• The dependent sporophyte consists of a foot,
which is enclosed in female gametophyte tissue;
a stalk; and an upper capsule, the sporangium,
where spores are produced.
• A moss sporophyte can be likened to a child
that never leaves home—it is always attached
to the gametophyte. At first, the sporophyte is
green and photosynthetic; at maturity, it is
brown and non-photosynthetic.
• In some species, the sporangium can produce
as many as 50 million spores.
• The spores disperse the gametophyte
generation.

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III.

 The suffix wort is an Anglo-Saxon term meaning herb.

Lack vascular tissues- have hydroids (water

Gametophyte generation is the predominant and

 Peat bogs are made mostly of moss called sphagnum. They

 Sphagnum is harvested for use as a soil conditioner.

 May have cuticle

 All liverworts exhibit the basic alternation of generations

 vascular plants dominate the natural landscape in nearly all

 Trees are vascular plants that achieve great height because

 Fossil record tells us that the fi rst vascular plants, such as

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