Reproduction In Plants

Chapter 14
IGCSE
CODE : 0610
14.1 Asexual & Sexual
Reproduction
• An example of Asexual Reproduction
• Sexual Reproduction
1. Gametes
14.1 Asexual & Sexual
Reproduction
• Reproduction is one of the characteristics of all living
organisms.
• Each kind of organism has its own particular method of
reproducing, but all of these methods fit into one of 2
categories- asexual reproduction or sexual
reproduction.
• Asexual reproduction involves just one parent where
some of the parent’s cells divide to produce new cells
that contain exactly same genes as the parent cell & so
are genetically identical.
• They grow into new organisms, which are all genetically
identical to each other and the single parent.
An Example of Asexual
Reproduction
• Potatoes for example use stem tubes to reproduce.
• When ideal conditions like warmth is there some of the plant’s
stems grow normally & produce leaves above ground, which
photosynthesize.
• Other stems grow under the soil where the swellings known as
tubers form on them.
• Other than organisms like plants which can reproduce
asexually we also have bacteria for example where the one
cell divides into two.
• Small Animals like hydra which live in fresh water & is related
to sea anemones, reproduces asexually by growing ‘buds’
which develop into a young hydra before breaking away from
the parent.
Sexual Reproduction
• In sexual reproduction the sex cells produced by the
organism is known as gametes.
• 2 examples of gametes are sperm & egg cells, where both
join & their nuclei fuse together & this process is known
as fertilization.
• The new cell formed by fertilization is known as zygote,
where it divides again & again & eventually grows into a
new organism.
• The zygote contains chromosomes from its both parents
having any combination of their genes.
• This reproduction therefore produces offspring that are
genetically different from each other & from their parents.
 Gametes
• The zygote they form contains the correct number of chromosomes.
• There are two types of gametes produced when reproduced sexually.
• Female gametes (Egg cell) are relatively large than that of male
gametes (sperm cell), where egg cells cannot move but sperm cells
can.
• In humans, there are 2 sets of chromosomes in each cell where one
comes from father & other from mother.
• Each set contains 23 chromosomes where 46 are total in each body or
cell & cells or nuclei which have the complete set of chromosomes are
known as diploid & cells which have sets of chromosomes like 23 are
said to be haploid which explains gametes are haploid.
• When they fuse together to form a zygote they then have 46
chromosomes which makes them diploid again.
Gametes
• We do have a different number of chromosomes other than 46
just like the eucalyptus trees which has 22 chromosomes in
total and its gametes cells have 11 chromosomes then when
fused they form a zygote with 22 chromosomes.
• Gametes are made from the reproductive organs just like in
plants gametes in pollen grains are made when cells in
anthers divide.
• Normally cells are divided by mitosis which produces the
exactly same chromosomes the cells before its genes had as
the parent cell (46).
• But since the gametes are dividing so they don’t go through
the same process its cells divided in a different way called
meiosis.
14.2 Sexual Reproduction
in flowering plants
• Flowers
• Pollen grains & ovules
• Pollination
• Wind Pollination
• Self & Cross Pollination
• Fertilization
• Seeds
 Flowers
• The flowering flowers can reproduce in more than one way like
asexually & sexually both in different ways.
• The function of flowering plants is to make gametes & to ensure that
fertilization will take place.
• On the outside of the flower are the sepals.
• The sepals protect the flower while it is a bud where sepals are green.
• Inside the sepals are petals which are often brightly colored to attract
the bees.
• Inside the flowers are stamens and are the male parts of the flower.
• They are made up of filament with an anther at the top.
• These anthers contain pollen grains which contain the male gametes.
 Flowers
• At the center of the flower is the female part which consists of one or more carpels.
• A carpel contains an ovary.
• Inside the ovary are many ovules which contain the female gametes.
• At the top of the ovary is the style with a stigma at the tip.
• The function of stigma is to catch pollen grains.
Pollen grains & ovules
• The pollen gametes are inside the pollen grains which are made in the
anthers
• The anther has four spaces inside it which are called pollen sacs.
• Some of the cells around the edge of the sacs divide to make pollen
grains.
• When the flower bud opens the anther split opens.
• Pollen looks like a fine powder, it is often yellow.
• Pollen grains have different kinds of flower have different shapes-
sometimes spiky, sometimes smooth.
 Pollens grains & ovules
• Each grain is surrounded by a hard coat so that it can survive the hard conditions just in case.
• The coat protects the male gametes that are inside the grains as the pollen is carried from
one of the flower to another.
• The female gametes are inside the ovules in the ovary.
• Each ovule contains a nucleus.
• Fertilization happens when a pollen grain nucleus fuses with an ovule nucleus.
 Pollination
• The male gametes must travel to female gametes for
fertilization to take place.
• The very 1st stage of this journey is for the pollen to be
taken from the anther where it was made to the stigma
which is known as pollination.
• Pollination is usually carried out by insects like bees
when they are attracted to the sweet scent and the
bright colors of the flower.
• The bee following the guidelines to the nectars,
brushing past the anthers as it goes, some of the
pollen sticks to its body & afterwards the bee then
goes for another flower looking for more nectars.
Pollination
• Some of the pollen that picked up at the first
flower then sticks out at the stigma of the second
lower as the bee brushes past it.
• The stigma is sticky & that’s the reason many
pollen grains stick onto it.
• If the second flower is from the same species of
the first plant pollination has taken place
 Wind Pollination
• Wind pollinated flowers usually produce much more
pollen than that of insect-pollinated flowers because a
lot of pollen doesn’t land on another, so huge amounts
are wasted.
• Although insect do eat some pollen, they are much likely
to deliver a pollen successfully to another flower than
the wind.
• Wind pollinated flowers usually do not have petals as
there is no need to attract insects.
• Their anthers & stigmas dangle outside to catch the
wind since the filaments of the anthers are very flexible
so they can swing in the wind & release their pollen.
Wind Pollination
• The feathery stigmas have a large surface area
increasing the chances of catching pollen
meanwhile the insect pollinated flowers have
their stigmas & anthers enclosed within the
petals so the bees have to brush
Wind through the
nectar. pollinated
flowers look
like this

Wind
pollinated
flowers’
pollen
grains look
like this
mostly
A comparison between insect-pollinated & wind
pollinated flowers
Insect Pollinated flower Wind pollinated flower
Large, conspicuous petals, often with guidelines Small, inconspicuous petals, or no petals at all

Often strongly scented No scent

Often have nectars at the base of petals No nectars
Anthers inside flower, where insect has to brush past them Anthers dangle outside the flower, where they catch the
to reach nectar wind
Stigma inside flower, where insect has to brush Stigmas large & feathery & dangle outside the flower,
where pollen in the air may land on it

Sticky or spiky pollen grains, where insect has to brush past Smooth, light pollen, which can be blown in the wind
it to reach nectar

Quite large quantities of pollen made, because some will be Very large quantities of pollen made, because most will be
eaten or will be eaten or will be delivered to the wrong kind blown away & lost
of flower
Self & Cross Pollination
• Sometimes pollen is carried to the stigma of the
same flower or to another flower on the same
plant which is called self pollination.
• If pollen is carried to a flower on a different plant
of the same species, this is called cross
pollination.
• If pollen lands on the stigma of a different species
of a plant the pollen grain usually dies.
Fertilization
• After pollination the male gamete inside the
pollen grain is on the stigma as it still hasn’t
reached the female gamete inside the ovule & the
ovule is inside the ovary.
• So the fertilization takes place the male gamete
must fuse with female gamete.
• If the pollen grain has landed on the right kind of
stigma it begins to grow a tube, which grows
down through the style & the ovary towards the
ovule.
• It secretes enzymes to digest a pathway through
the style.
 Fertilization
• The ovule is surrounded by several
protective layers of cells called the
integuments.
• At one end, there is a small hole,
called the micropyle where the
pollen tube grows through it
(micropyle) into the ovule.
• The pollen nucleus (male gamete)
travels along the pollen tube & into
the ovule where it fuses with the
ovule nucleus (female gamete) now
Fertilization has taken place.
• One pollen grain can only fertilize
one ovule.
• If there are many ovules in the
ovary then many pollen grains will
be needed to fertilize them all.
Seeds
• After ovules have been, fertilized many parts of flower are not needed
anymore.
• The sepals, petals & stamens have all done their job, they wither & fall off.
• Inside the ovary the ovules start to grow.
• Each ovule now contains a zygote which has formed at fertilization.
• The zygote divides by mitosis to form an embryo plant which now makes the
ovule a seed.
• When the seed was formed on the plant the water in it was drawn out so
the seed became dehydrated since I lost the huge amount of water it had.
• It was important to take the water out since no metabolic reactions will
occur where this situation now makes the seed dormant.
Seeds
• The dormant condition of the seeds is useful because this way they
can survive harsh conditions such as cold or drought which could kill a
growing plant.
• There are certain conditions that a seed should have and they are
1. Need Oxygen
2. Need Water
3. Warm temperature
• Before they germinate
14.3 Advantages &
disadvantages of different
methods of Reproduction
• Comparing asexual reproduction & sexual reproduction
• Comparing self pollination & cross pollination
 Comparing Asexual
Reproduction & Sexual
Reproduction
Asexual Reproduction: Sexual Reproduction:
• Parents cells divide by mitosis, which • Parent cells divide by meiosis where
makes the new cells genetically the gamete cells have the half of
identical to the parent cell basically chromosomes as the parent cell.
clones. • When these cells combine they make
• Doesn’t produce genetic variation. different gametes & a new
combination of genes is formed.
• Sexual reproduction produces
offspring that are genetically different
from their parents.
Comparison
• AASR/DSASR: Better sometimes not to have variation.
• If a plant is growing in a better place then it would be adapted to
its environment.
• When no variety and same genes grow over the same area they
will all be equally well adapted to the environment & are likely to
grow well.
• AASR/DSASR: But when crowded it wouldn’t be a good thing for
the parent to produce an offspring of different types because it
would be better for them to grow further away.
• ASR: Sexual Reproduction in flowering plants produce seed
which are likely to be dispersed over the area which makes them
far away from their parent & makes them less likely to compete
with them helping to colonize other new areas.
Comparison
• AASR: single organism can reproduce on its own because it
doesn’t need to wait to be pollinated or find a mate.
• This can be good when there are not many organisms around-
perhaps there is also one single one growing in an isolated
place which makes asexual reproduction is the best option.
• ASR: there could be some cases as the plant is not at its best in
the environment or a new disease is on spread which couldn’t
be resistant then better to have a different offspring.
• ASR: It’s a good chance that the offspring would be different
and would be well adapted to the changes happening around in
the environment or be resistant to the disease which makes
sexual reproduction more efficient than that of asexual
reproduction.
Comparing Self-Pollination & Cross-
Pollination
Similarity: both types of pollination are methods
of sexual reproduction as they involve both
gametes & fertilization.
Self-Pollination Cross-Pollination
• A male gamete fuses with • Fertilization produces a
the female gamete and zygote that can be very
fertilizes itself. Variation different from each other or
would be somehow made either of their parents due to
the very genetically different
due to the sexual method from its parent plants
of reproduction.
Comparing Self-Pollination & Cross-
Pollination
• ASP: advantageous when variation kept to
minimum.
• ASP: Its useful when there would be difficulty in
finding another plant nearby to exchange pollen
with.
Key Words:
Asexual Reproduction: a process resulting in the production of genetically identical offspring from one
parent.

Sexual Reproduction: a process involving the fusion of the nuclei of two gametes to form a zygote & the
production of offspring that are genetically different from each other.

Diploid: having two complete sets of chromosomes.

Haploid: having only a single set of chromosomes.

Mitosis: division of cell nucleus resulting in two genetically identical nuclei.

Meiosis: division of a diploid nucleus resulting in four genetically different haploid nuclei; this is sometimes
called a reduction division.
Gamete: a sex cell; a cell with half the normal number of chromosomes, whose nucleus fuses with the
nucleus of another gamete during sexual reproduction.

Fertilization: the fusion of two gametes.

Zygote: a cell that is formed by the fusion of two gametes.

Sepals: leaf-like structures that form a ring outside the petals of a flower.
Petals: colored-structures that attract insects or birds to a flower.
Key Words:
Stamens: the male parts of a flower.
Filament: the ‘stalk’ part of a stamen.
Anther: the structure at the top of a stamen, inside which pollen grains are made.
Pollen Grains: small structures which contain the male gamete of the flower.
Carpel: female part of the flower.
Ovary: the part of flower that holds the ovules.
Ovules: small structures that contain the female gametes.
Style: the part of carpel that connects the stigma to the ovary.
Stigma: the part of a flower that receives pollen.
Pollination: The transfer of pollen grains from the male part of the plant to the female part of the plant.
Self-Pollination: the transfer of pollen grains from the anther of the flower to the stigma of the same
flower, or a different plant of the same plant.
Cross Pollination: transfer of pollen grains from the anther of flower to the stigma of a flower on a
different plant of a species.

Seeds: the structure that develops from an ovule after fertilization; it contains an embryo plant.
Dormant: inactive, metabolic reactions taking place very slowly or not at all.
Summa
ry
The End