Terrestrial plants have haploid gametophyte and diploid sporophyte forms. In the

Question

Terrestrial plants have haploid gametophyte and diploid sporophyte forms. In the figure below you can see that the ratio of size of sporophyte to gametophyte decreases dramatically between bryophytes and angiosperms. The ratio of the life spans of the two forms changes similarly. What might have been the adaptive advantages to terrestrial plants of reducing their gametophyte size and increasing their sporophyte size? Start your answer with a brief hypothesis stating the essence of what you think was the adaptive advantage.

Explanation / Answer

Adaptive chanhes are th ebiological changes that occur in living organisms during unfavourable environmental conditions. For example, Nonvascular plants (Eg: liverworts and hornworts) lack the vascular tissue, which greatly reduced the size of these plants. The evolution of vascular tissue (is an adaptive change) by cell division at the tips of the stem and roots (this sort of growth is called primary growth) led the plants to supply the nutrients and water more efficiently to the upper portions allowing the plants to grow larger and in drier conditions.

Plants have an

Related Questions

Navigate

• Browse (All)
• Browse T
• Subjects

---

---

Integrity-first tutoring: explanations and feedback only — we do not complete graded work. Learn more.