Thursday, January 12, 2012

How is the life cycle of a fern different from that of a moss?

The dominant form for the moss is the gametophyte. For the fern it is the sporophyte. Both experience both, with an alternation of generations. Both have gametophyte generations that produce gametes from archegonia and antheridia which swim together and form a diploid zygote that develops by mitosos into a mature spore-formin sporophyte. But in the ferns, this is the plant form that you see and think of when you think of a fern, complete with fronds. In the moss, this sporophyte phase is a non-photosynthesizing, parasitic, epiphytic shoot growing out of the plant that you normally think of as the moss.

How is the life cycle of a fern different from that of a moss?
Ferns produce spores and spread through the atmosphere.

Mosses reproduce through root systems and remain quite local.
Reply:a fern is beautiful to the touch and the sight, but the moss...I almost slipped on moss all my life, when I would visit the woods...so the moss lasts longer cause it's slime...and ferns just fade away....ha ha ...get the right answer from another avatar, but in an artistic way of looking at things, I think I am right...ha ha ha


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