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Seeds developed some features in order for these to be better-adapted to the environment (e.g. methods of dispersal).
Some of these are mentioned below:
1. seeds provide protection, mostly by means of the seed coat, from mechanical damage, desiccation, and often
predation.
2. seeds function as the dispersal unit of sexual reproduction.
3. the seed coat may function in dormancy mechanisms that ensure germination of the seed only under ideal
conditions of temperature, sunlight, or moisture.
4. upon germination, the nutritive tissue surrounding the embryo provides energy for the young seedling, aiding
in successful establishment.
2. Based on fossil evidence, what was the precursor of the integument and micropyle?
- Fossil evidence suggests that the integument likely evolved from separate lobes derived from telomes
(ancestral branches) that surrounded the megasporangium. These “preovules”, i.e., ovules prior to the
evolution of integuments, possessed a rim or ring of tissue at the apex of the megasporangium, the
lagenostome, which functioned to funnel pollen grains to a pollination chamber. Seed evolution occurred with
the evolutionary “fusion” of the telomes to form theintegument, a continuous sheath that completely
surrounds the nucellus.
- A haustorial outgrowth of the male gametophyte, which functions to feed off the tissues of the
megasporangium or (in angiosperms) the stylar tissue and which may function in the delivery of sperm cells
to the archegonium or (in angiosperms) micropyle and egg/polar nuclei of the female gametophyte.
- The pollination droplet is a droplet of liquid that is secreted by the young ovule through the micropyle, formed
by the breakdown of cells at the distal end of the megasporangium (nucellus), known as the pollination
chamber. The pollination droplet functions in transporting pollen grains through the micropyle by resorption
of the droplet, which “pulls” pollen grains that have contacted the droplet into the pollination chamber.
5. Review the stages of ovule and seed development, and explain the lag period between pollination and fertilization.
FROM:
(n.d) http://booksite.elsevier.com/9780123743800/solutions/Chapter_05_Review_Questions.doc