Deck 30: Green Plants

Question 1

What evidence do paleobotanists look for that indicates the movement of plants from water to land?

A)waxy cuticle to decrease evaporation from leaves
B)loss of structures that produce spores
C)sporopollenin to inhibit evaporation from leaves
D)remnants of chloroplasts from photosynthesizing cells

Answer 1

A

Question 2

Why are seedless vascular plants considered paraphyletic rather than monophyletic?

A)Some of the groups within the seedless vascular plants (Equisetophyta and Pteridophyta)are more closely related to each other than to other groups (Lycophyta).
B)They share a more recent common ancestor with seeded plants than they do with the non-vascular plants.
C)All of the groups contained within the seedless vascular plants do not have the same ancestor.
D)The group includes their common ancestor but also the seeded descendants of that same ancestor.

Answer 2

D

Question 3

According to the fossil record,plants colonized terrestrial habitats _____.

A)in conjunction with insects that pollinated them
B)in conjunction with fungi that helped provide them with nutrients from the soil
C)from marine habitats
D)only about 150 million years ago

Answer 3

B

Question 4

Bioprospectors and ethnobotanists search for plants and plant products used for medicines by native cultures.The major function of the medicinal compounds in plants is to _____.

A)attract pollinators for seed dispersal
B)attract insects and birds to spread seeds and fruits
C)defend the plant against herbivores
D)defend the plant against microbes

Question 5

An important fossil fuel is coal,much of which was formed when _____.

A)northern-latitude bogs accumulated peat
B)ancient angiosperms got buried under volcanic ash
C)huge gymnosperms were flooded by an inland sea
D)extensive forests of seedless vascular plants were buried and compressed

Question 6

Most moss gametophytes do not have a cuticle and are one to two cells thick.What does this imply about moss gametophytes and their structure?

A)They use stomata for gas exchange regulation.
B)They can easily lose water to,and absorb water from,the atmosphere.
C)Photosynthesis occurs throughout the entire gametophyte surface.
D)They have branching veins in their leaves.

Question 7

You find a green organism in a pond near your house and believe it is a plant,not an alga.Which line of evidence would definitively support your hypothesis?

A)It contains chloroplasts.
B)It is multicellular.
C)It is surrounded by a cuticle.
D)It does not contain vascular tissue.
E)Its cell walls are comprised largely of cellulose.

Question 8

To colonize,land plants had to overcome a number of difficulties.However,once this occurred they were able to exploit more abundant resources.Which of the following resources were more plentiful on land than in water during the early evolution of land plants?

A)space
B)nitrogen
C)water
D)oxygen
E)sunlight

Question 9

Why have biologists hypothesized that the first land plants had a low,sprawling growth habit?

A)At the time of the first land plants,the carbon dioxide,which is necessary for photosynthesis,was primarily located close to the ground.
B)They were tied to the water for reproduction and thus needed to remain in close contact with the moist soil.
C)The ancestors of land plants,green algae,lack the structural support to stand erect in air.
D)Land animals of that period were small so they needed short plants to eat.
E)There was less competition for space;only once land plants spread out did they start to grow upright.

Question 10

The most direct ancestors of land plants were probably _____.

A)any of the green algae that live in water
B)certain groups of algae
C)photosynthesizing prokaryotes (cyanobacteria)
D)liverworts and mosses

Question 11

You want to get rid of your cough and stuffy nose,and a friend offers you a cup of tea.After you drink the tea,you realize that you are feeling relief from your symptoms.What plant compound was most likely found in the tea?

A)quinine
B)codeine
C)menthol
D)salacin
E)morphine

Question 12

Which of these time intervals,based on plant fossils,came last (most recently)?

A)extensive growth of gymnosperm forests
B)Silurian-Devonian explosion with fossils of plant lineages that contain most of the major morphological innovations
C)colonization of land by early liverworts and mosses
D)rise and diversification of angiosperms
E)carboniferous swamps with giant horsetails and lycophytes

Question 13

Which of these activities is not a part of development of crop plants from wild relatives?

A)people planting seeds of the plants with the characteristic wanted
B)people making observations of desired plant characteristics
C)people eating products from only the plants with desired characteristics
D)people developing several varieties of crops from a wild relative

Question 14

Which of the following lines of evidence would most support your assertion that a particular plant is an angiosperm?

A)It produces seeds.
B)It retains its fertilized egg within its archaegonium.
C)It lacks gametangia.
D)It undergoes alternation of generations.
E)It produces gametes by mitosis rather than meiosis.

Question 15

About 450 million years ago,the terrestrial landscape on Earth would have _____.

A)looked very similar to that of today,with flowers,grasses,shrubs,and trees
B)been completely bare rock,with little pools that contained bacteria and cyanobacteria
C)been covered with tall forests in swamps that became today's coal
D)had non-vascular green plants similar to liverworts forming green mats on rock

Question 16

Which set contains the most closely related terms?

A)megasporangium,megaspore,pollen,ovule
B)microsporangium,microspore,egg,ovary
C)megasporangium,megaspore,egg,ovule
D)microsporangium,microspore,carpel,ovary

Question 17

What do the fuels wood and coal have in common?

A)They are derived from fossilized animals.
B)They are formed from living or fossil plants.
C)They are formed under pressure deep in the Earth.
D)They were both commonly used throughout the U.S.through the early 1900s.

Question 18

Molecular phylogenies show all land plants are a monophyletic group.This suggests that _____.

A)there were many different transitions from aquatic to terrestrial habitats
B)wind-pollinated plants arose first
C)land plants have undergone a diversification since they first colonized terrestrial habitats
D)there was a single transition from aquatic to terrestrial habitats

Question 19

Plants are the primary providers of oxygen,which is obtained by the reduction of carbon dioxide.What chemical donates the electrons needed for CO₂ reduction?

A)sunlight
B)glucose
C)water
D)carbon monoxide
E)oxygen

Question 20

Which of these is a major trend in land plant evolution?

A)the trend toward smaller size
B)the trend toward a gametophyte-dominated life cycle
C)the trend toward a sporophyte-dominated life cycle
D)the trend toward larger gametophytes

Question 21

Which of the following is true of stomata?

A)Stomata occur in all land plants and define them as a monophyletic group.
B)Stomata open to allow gas exchange and close to decrease water loss.
C)Stomata occur in all land plants and are the same as pores.
D)Stomata open to increase both water absorption and gas exchange.

Question 22

Use the following information when answering the corresponding question(s).
Scarlet gilia (Ipomopsis aggregata)usually has red flowers in an inflorescence of up to 250 flowers.In certain populations in the Arizona mountains,however,the flowers range from red to pink to white.In early summer,most of the flowers were red.Six to eight weeks later,the same individual plants were still present;the flowers ranged from pink to white,and few red flowers were present.The major pollinators early in the season were two species of hummingbirds active during the day;they emigrated to lower elevations,and the major pollinator later in the season was a hawk moth (a type of moth).The hawk moth was most active at sunset and later,and it preferred light pink to white flowers after dark.When hummingbirds were present,more red flowers than white flowers produced fruit.When only hawk moths were present,more white flowers produced fruit (K.N.Paige and T.G.Whitham.1985.Individual and population shifts in flower color by scarlet gilia: A mechanism for pollinator tracking.Science 227:315-17).
Refer to the paragraph on scarlet gilia.Some plants changed their flowers to lighter colors,and some retained the same darker color all season.Which plants do you expect produced more fruit?

A)those that changed their color to a lighter shade
B)those that stayed darker
C)They probably produced the same numbers of fruit.

Question 23

What two major novelties allowed for the first colonization of terrestrial habitats by plants?

A)roots and vascular tissue
B)cuticle and pores
C)roots and true leaves
D)vascular tissue and cuticle
E)tracheids and vessel elements

Question 24

Spores and seeds have basically the same function-dispersal-but are vastly different because _____.

A)spores have a protective outer covering;seeds do not
B)spores have an embryo;seeds do not
C)spores have stored nutrition;seeds do not
D)spores are unicellular;seeds are not
E)spores depend primarily on animals for dispersal;seeds do not

Question 25

The retaining of the zygote on the living gametophyte of land plants _____.

A)protects the zygote from herbivores
B)evolved concurrently with pollen
C)helps in dispersal of the zygote
D)allows it to be nourished by the parent plant
E)is found only in seed plants

Question 26

Use the following information when answering the corresponding question(s).
Scarlet gilia (Ipomopsis aggregata)usually has red flowers in an inflorescence of up to 250 flowers.In certain populations in the Arizona mountains,however,the flowers range from red to pink to white.In early summer,most of the flowers were red.Six to eight weeks later,the same individual plants were still present;the flowers ranged from pink to white,and few red flowers were present.The major pollinators early in the season were two species of hummingbirds active during the day;they emigrated to lower elevations,and the major pollinator later in the season was a hawk moth (a type of moth).The hawk moth was most active at sunset and later,and it preferred light pink to white flowers after dark.When hummingbirds were present,more red flowers than white flowers produced fruit.When only hawk moths were present,more white flowers produced fruit (K.N.Paige and T.G.Whitham.1985.Individual and population shifts in flower color by scarlet gilia: A mechanism for pollinator tracking.Science 227:315-17).
Refer to the paragraph on scarlet gilia.Late in the season,when only hawk moths were present,researchers painted the red flowers white.What would you expect?

A)Unpainted red flowers would produce more fruits than white flowers would.
B)Red flowers painted white would produce more fruits than red flowers would.
C)Red and white flowers would produce the same numbers of fruits.

Question 27

Which of these are structures in a gametophyte generation?

A)leaves,stems,roots,flowers,cones
B)spores,egg,sperm,pollen,archegonium
C)antheridium,embryo,seed,spores,flower
D)egg,sperm,zygote,embryo,seedling

Question 28

Which of these are spore-producing structures?

A)sporophyte (capsule)of a moss
B)antheridium of a moss or fern
C)archegonium of a moss or fern
D)gametophyte of a moss

Question 29

What is true about the genus Sphagnum?

A)It is an economically important liverwort.
B)It grows in extensive mats in grassland areas.
C)It is used by gardeners as a fertilizer.
D)It accumulates to form coal and is burned as a fuel.
E)It is an important carbon sink,reducing atmospheric CO₂.

Question 30

Liverworts,hornworts,and mosses are grouped together as the Bryophytes.Besides not having vascular tissue,what do they all have in common?

A)They are all wind pollinated.
B)They are heterosporous.
C)They can reproduce asexually by producing gemmae.
D)They require water for reproduction.
E)They have the ability to desiccate and rehydrate with no ill effects.

Question 31

Which of these processes does not result in the formation of a different generation in a plant's sexual life cycle?

A)pollination
B)meiosis
C)mitosis
D)fertilization

Question 32

As you stroll through a moist forest,you are most likely to see a _____.

A)zygote of a green alga
B)gametophyte of a moss
C)sporophyte of a liverwort
D)gametophyte of a fern

Question 33

How are the bryophytes and seedless vascular plants alike?

A)Plants in both groups have vascular tissue.
B)In both groups,sperm swim from antheridia to archegonia.
C)The dominant generation in both groups is the sporophyte.
D)Plants in both groups have true roots,stems,and leaves.

Question 34

The herbicide 2,4-D affects the metabolism of dicots and kills most of them.What is a common feature of plants that are susceptible to 2,4-D?

A)branching leaf veins
B)flower parts in threes
C)one cotyledon in the seed
D)vascular tissue scattered throughout the stem

Question 35

How could you determine if a plant is heterosporous?

A)It produces pollen.
B)It produces bisexual gametophytes.
C)It has vascular tissue.
D)It has multiple sporangia.
E)Its diploid sporophyte produces spores via meiosis.

Question 36

Because they are morphologically simple,Psilotophyta have traditionally been thought to be a basal group in the radiation of land plants.Molecular phylogenies have challenged this hypothesis and support the alternative hypothesis that _____.

A)they are the sister group to the seed plants
B)they represent a grade rather than a monophyletic group
C)they have lost complex structures in this lineage
D)they represent a lineage that forms a monophyletic group with Lycophyta

Question 37

Which of the following is a correct element of alternation of generations?

A)The sporophyte is haploid and produces gametes.
B)The sporophyte is diploid and produces spores.
C)The gametophyte is haploid and produces spores.
D)The gametophyte is diploid and produces gametes.
E)Two spores unite to form a zygote.

Question 38

Which of the following innovations is not associated with angiosperm diversification?

A)vessel elements
B)flowers
C)leaves
D)fruits

Question 39

The vast number and variety of flower species is probably related to various kinds of _____.

A)seed dispersal agents
B)pollinators
C)herbivores
D)climatic conditions

Question 40

Use the following information when answering the corresponding question(s).
Scarlet gilia (Ipomopsis aggregata)usually has red flowers in an inflorescence of up to 250 flowers.In certain populations in the Arizona mountains,however,the flowers range from red to pink to white.In early summer,most of the flowers were red.Six to eight weeks later,the same individual plants were still present;the flowers ranged from pink to white,and few red flowers were present.The major pollinators early in the season were two species of hummingbirds active during the day;they emigrated to lower elevations,and the major pollinator later in the season was a hawk moth (a type of moth).The hawk moth was most active at sunset and later,and it preferred light pink to white flowers after dark.When hummingbirds were present,more red flowers than white flowers produced fruit.When only hawk moths were present,more white flowers produced fruit (K.N.Paige and T.G.Whitham.1985.Individual and population shifts in flower color by scarlet gilia: A mechanism for pollinator tracking.Science 227:315-17).
Refer to the paragraph on scarlet gilia.What is the significance of measuring fruit production?

A)It is a measure of pollination success.
B)It is a measure of seed dispersal success.
C)It is easier than counting flowers.
D)It is an indication of predation on the seeds of the plants.

Question 41

Which of the following possess stomata?

A)Ulvophyceae
B)Hepaticophyta
C)Charaphyaceae
D)Anthocerophyta

Question 42

In general,liverworts have a cuticle and pores.However,some species do not have pores.What would you predict concerning the cuticle of these species and why?

A)The cuticle would be the same as in those species with pores.
B)The cuticle would be thicker than in those species with pores.
C)The cuticle would be thinner than in those species with pores.
D)There is not enough information to make a prediction.

Question 43

Immature seed cones of conifers are usually green before pollination,and flowers of grasses are inconspicuously colored.What does this indicate about their pollination?

A)They self-fertilize and do not need pollen carried from one plant to another.
B)Their pollinating insects are color blind.
C)They are wind pollinated.
D)They probably attract pollinators using strong fragrances.

Question 44

The presence of which of the following would allow you to place a plant definitively in the Angiosperms rather than the Gymnosperms?

A)seeds
B)pollen
C)cones
D)microsporangia
E)anthers

Question 45

The closest relatives of the familiar pine and spruce trees are _____.

A)ferns,horsetails,lycophytes,club mosses
B)hornworts,liverworts,mosses
C)gnetophytes,cycads,ginkgoes
D)elms,maples,aspens

Question 46

The most basal lineages of land plants include _____.

A)Lycophyta,Psilotophyta,and Pteridophyta
B)Hepaticophyta,Anthocerophyta,and Bryophyta
C)Spenophyta,Charaphyaceae,and Bryophyta
D)Cycadophyta,Ginkophyta,and Gnetophyta

Question 47

Where are you least likely to see green algae?

A)as pink snow in the mountains in summer
B)growing symbiotically with fungi in lichens or with some invertebrate animals
C)growing independently on dry rock in meadows
D)growing independently on wet rock in ponds and lakes
E)floating in seas and oceans

Question 48

Which group of seedless vascular plants was the first to develop roots?

A)club mosses
B)horsetails
C)ferns
D)whisk ferns

Question 49

Conifers and pines both have needlelike leaves.Why might their leaves be of this type?

A)to increase surface area for photosynthesis
B)to increase surface area for gas exchange
C)to decrease surface area for gas exchange
D)to decrease surface area for water loss